ABC/Image Group LAA day after performing at the AMAs — her first performance since undergoing a kidney transplant over the summer — Selena Gomez attended the Lupus Research Alliance’s Breaking Through Gala to raise awareness of the disease.
The singer delivered a speech at the New York City event, where she documented her own lupus journey and thanked the doctors who saved her life.
“I am really honored to be here with all of you guys tonight, my lupus community,” she said, according to E! News. “As many of you know or might not know, I was diagnosed with lupus about five or six years ago.”
Selena said that when she was diagnosed, doctors warned her that she might need a kidney transplant one day.
“Maybe I wasn’t necessarily really good at knowing what that meant so it actually got to a point where it was life-or-death,” she said, adding, “Thankfully, one of my best friends gave me her kidney and it was the ultimate gift of life. And I am doing quite well now.”
Selena said she hopes that in the future, more treatment options are possible.
“I’d like to see the day when all young women can realize their dreams of life without a lupus,” she said. “This is why I am committed to the Lupus Research Alliance. So that none of us are alone, especially the young women that I have grown up with and heard many, many stories.”
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