Why Bijou Phillips Refused to Stop Fighting for Life

Discover how a revolutionary surgical technique and a kidney exchange program saved Bijou Phillips’ life.

A Miraculous Health Update

Bijou Phillips’ health scare has come to an end. Finally, the 46-year-old actress was able to receive a kidney transplant after being on a waiting list for a long time.

Recently, she shared joyful news that her condition has greatly improved after the transplant. Phillips’ story is not only inspirational but unique in many ways, highlighting the miraculous work of medicine and the incredible help from family and friends.

Living with Illness

Bijou Phillips was born with very poor kidney function as her kidneys were underdeveloped. For the first three months of her life, she had to stay in the hospital on dialysis.

In 2017, one of her friends made her a great donation of one kidney to help her feel better for several years. However, soon after that, the actress caught a BK virus. After that, her kidney had to be removed because of the inevitable rejection of the transplant.

As for Phillips, this setback put her back on dialysis and made life even harder. Last year, she decided to go through an online campaign and make an open appeal for a kidney transplant. Her reason for this was very simple: Phillips is a single mother, and her ex-husband Danny Masterson was in prison.

Thus, she did not want to leave her daughter and believed she had to continue living for her daughter. She noted that her fight for life began anew and that, perhaps, this was the last chance for her to live for her child.

An Unusual Step Taken by a Brother

Unfortunately, finding a direct donor match was not an easy task, so Phillips’ brother made a heroic decision to participate in a kidney exchange voucher program. This program is very helpful to people who are in need of a kidney transplant.

It allows finding another donor for a voucher recipient, which means that the first donor’s kidney will be used in a transplant for another person. As for the voucher holder, in the future, there are much better chances of finding a more suitable kidney match.

A Miracle Come True

It seems that all the good efforts were rewarded with good results when a few weeks after her brother’s kidney donation, a donor match was found for Bijou Phillips.

A kidney transplant surgery took place, and according to the actress, it came as a great surprise because the fit between the kidney and her body was perfect. She even mentioned that she felt as if the kidney came from one of her parents.

The Surgeries That Changed the Situation

Besides her brother’s decision to donate one of his kidneys to help her, another decision made Phillips feel right at home. Namely, Dr. Veale decided to make a small incision and cut the fascia instead of the muscles.

The doctor explained his idea as a way to avoid unnecessary trauma to the abdominal muscles, as it is usually too painful after a transplant. Because of that, the recovery process was much faster than Phillips anticipated.

She even described her post-surgery experience, saying that she felt fantastic and hardly needed any pain relievers. Instead, she could manage nicely with Tylenol to alleviate any discomfort.

Five days after the operation, she even mentioned that she felt as good as she looked four months ago when she had her last transplant surgery in 2017.

Many Thanks to Medical Workers

Phillips expressed great gratitude to all the medical workers who were involved in her recent kidney transplant. She said that she was overwhelmed with their compassion and support.

The lady also mentioned that Dr. Veale’s approach to his work and the entire team of medical workers who participated in the voucher program were the reason why everything went so well. Thus, she said that people should know how much help was needed for this complicated procedure and how many caring people helped her.

Hope for the Future

Phillips’ future looks bright and full of positive surprises, as recently she shared a video of herself getting ready to be discharged from the hospital.

She is confident that her new chapter of life has begun and that she will now have more time to invest in her life and career. Her brother’s caring gesture, combined with the doctor’s tremendous skills and the support of her family and friends, has made it possible for her to feel so good after the operation.