Bijou Phillips undergoes life-saving transplant five months after desperate plea for a donor

Bijou Phillips has undergone a life-saving kidney transplant, five months after making a desperate plea when she was hospitalised while waiting for a donor. 

The 46-year-old former actress was previously placed on dialysis due to complications from a 2017 transplant and in an emotional post online revealed who gave her the kidney. 

“I am beyond beyond grateful to everyone who rushed into help me, get checked to donate, you are all heroes!” she wrote in the post on Instagram. 

Phillips revealed that her brother donated a kidney through the program, and in turn that program is what saved her life. 

“My wonderful brother donated in the kidney exchange! He saved a life, and the life he saved had a special person donate for them, and then a few weeks later! The voucher program found me a perfect match!” she continued. 

“So close it’s like I got the kidney from one of my parents! 

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Phillips praised her doctor for his work which she credited to her recovery going well so far. 

“Thank you UCLA! And all the amazing doctors and coordinators and nurses and everybody there has been so wonderful and amazing. Thank you so much!!!! @uclahealth love you Aron! Thank you the most! 🥰🙏🏼” 

The singer was born with underdeveloped kidneys, which she previously revealed left her in the NICU on dialysis for the first three months of her life. 

In 2017 she received her first kidney transplant, this one came from “a dear friend” which she shared on Instagram in February. 

“That transplant gave me eight precious years to be a mother to my daughter — but I have had many complications since,” she wrote. 

But when her health took a turn earlier this year, she needed another donor. 

Phillips’ friends and relatives were not a match for her, and there were “no prospective donors” at that time, Us Weekly reported.

Despite her optimism, the socialite revealed that a couple of months after her initial plea that she was “hanging on by a thread” as the search for a donor got more dire. 

Philips explained she was fighting to stay alive for her 12-year-old daughter Fianna, who she shares with her ex-husband Danny Masterson. 

She filed for divorce from the That ’70s Show actor in 2013, after 12 years of marriage. The divorce came after he was sentenced to 30 years to life in jail for raping two women. Philips has full custody of her daughter.