Bijou Phillips, 45, an actress, was taken to UCLA Health in Los Angeles because of problems with her 2017 kidney transplant. The transplant failed after she got the BK virus, which caused her body to reject it. She is stable now and back on dialysis with Dr. Anjay Rastogi at the CORE Kidney program. She is also desperately looking for a living kidney donor so she can spend more time with her daughter, family, and friends. Phillips posted an emotional Instagram message with a link to a donor form that said, “Time is of the essence.”
Phillips was born with a severely underdeveloped kidney. In 2017, a close friend gave her a kidney transplant, which allowed her to be a mother for eight years before her recent failures. The BK virus, which is common but dangerous after a transplant, caused her cells and antibodies to reject the transplant, making her long-term kidney disease worse. Danny Masterson, her ex-husband, talked about her private fight with weekly dialysis and trying to live a vegan lifestyle before the first transplant.
In her plea for help, Phillips stressed her roles as a friend, sister, aunt, and single mother. Fans and supporters can start the donation process using the form she shared. She is fighting for more time with her family during this urgent health crisis. Her representative says that she is still doing well while she waits for a match.
