Selena Gomez and Francia Raísa Share Kidney Transplant Story in "Today" Interview

As promised in the Instagram post in which she revealed she had undergone a kidney transplant, Selena Gomez and her kidney donor and best friend Francia Raísa are now sharing the full story behind the operation and their recovery. Part one of the pair's interview with Today host Savannah Guthrie aired Monday morning, and you might want to grab a box of tissues before watching the duo tell the (majorly emotional) story of how Francia may have literally saved Selena's life.

Selena, 25, and Francia, 29, explained how they reached the decision to undergo the surgery together. "I had arthritis, my kidneys were shutting down," Selena said with tears in her eyes. "My mentality was just to keep going... I didn't realize how much it was affecting my body."

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Although she was living with Francia at the time, she hadn't told her friend the extent of her health troubles. "I hadn't asked anything. I knew that she hadn't been feeling well," Francia said. "She couldn't open a water bottle one day. She chucked it and she started crying, and I said, 'What's wrong?' and that's when she told me."

Francia continued, "She goes, 'I don't know what to do. The list is seven to 10 years long,' and it just vomited out of me. I was like, 'Of course I'll get tested.'" Selena protested, not wanting to make Francia, who was just starting to film the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, put her career and entire life on hold for her — but the actress insisted. She got tested and, miraculously, turned out to be a match. (The chances of finding a valid organ donor among your family and friends is so slim that Selena's entire family had been tested and none of them were matches.) "She volunteered and did it and — let alone somebody wanting to volunteer — it is incredibly difficult to find a match," Selena said. "The fact that she was a match — I mean, that's unbelievable. That's not real."

Francia underwent all of the necessary tests, physical and psychological evaluations, and preparations for the surgery — including writing a will, which, she said, was a "scary" experience — in record time. "With our situation, because we were kind of in an emergency situation, I did everything in like a day," she said. "Usually, the process takes like six months, so it was really fast."

Selena tried to make things as comfortable as possible for the both of them before the operation. The night before their surgeries, the duo weren't supposed to eat past midnight, so they stuffed their faces with "way too much food" up until then. And before they went to the hospital, a friend came over and braided their hair. According to Francia, it worked: "When I woke up, I was calm," she said, adding that her surgery went super smoothly.

The "Wolves" singer, however, had a little more trouble. "I started to attempt to fall asleep [after the surgery] and in the middle of that process, I started hyperventilating and there was so much pain," Selena said, explaining that she had to go back into surgery because her body was reacting badly to the new kidney. "My teeth were grinding, I was freaking out. It was a six-hour surgery that they had to do on me and the normal kidney process is actually two hours. Apparently, one of the arteries had flipped." She added, "I am very thankful that there are people that know what to do in that situation."

And despite a "humbling" recovery process, during which Selena and Francia were only able to walk for about an hour a day and needed help doing everything, including taking showers, Selena said the ordeal has already had noticeable effects on her life. "I guess I got to the point where it was really kind of life or death," she said. "It's really hard to think about or even to swallow, especially now that as soon as I got the kidney transplant, my arthritis went away; my lupus, there's about a three to five percent chance it'll ever come back; my blood pressure is better; my energy, my life has been better."

Ultimately, the pair hope that sharing their story will have a positive impact on others. "I just really hope that we can help somebody," a tearful Selena said. "I really do. I don't think what we went through was easy, I don't think it was fun. I just hope this inspires people to feel good and to know that there is really good people in the world."

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