Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland Has Opened Up About Her Second Kidney Transplant

Sarah Hyland has revealed that she ‘contemplated suicide’ after finding out she needed a second kidney transplant.

The Modern Family actress opened up about how her chronic illness impacted her mental health in a new interview with Self magazine.

Sarah was born with kidney dysplasia, which meant her kidneys did not develop normally. She has spoken in the past about receiving a kidney from her father in 2012, but in 2016, her body began to reject the donated kidney. After going on dialysis in early 2017, the kidney was removed, and her brother donated one of his for a second transplant.

She revealed the fear that the second kidney would also be rejected gave her suicidal thoughts:

When a family member gives you a second chance at life, and it fails, it almost feels like it’s your fault. It’s not. But it does. For a long time, I was contemplating suicide, because I didn’t want to fail my little brother like I failed my dad.

“I had gone through my whole life of always being a burden, of always having to be looked after, cared for,” she said, describing her thought process of the time – but sharing her feelings with a friend helped her come out the other side.

She also credits her boyfriend Wells Adams with helping her recover; the pair met in person for the first time just three days before the surgery.

Sarah is still dealing with some side-effects a year on from the transplant, like abdominal swelling from where her new kidney connects to the old kidneys (she calls it her KUPA, or ‘kidney upper pussy area’).

It’s this bittersweet moment of ‘Oh my gosh, I have new life’, but then also being an actress and being held up to this sort of pedestal of how you’re supposed to look. Sometimes I have complete meltdowns in the middle of fittings, being like ‘KUPA will show. I really want to wear this dress and you can’t hide it.’

In spring of 2018, she had two further surgeries for her endometriosis and an abdominal hernia – she’s really been through it over the past two years, but she’s learning to trust her body again.

“I’m stable, I’m thriving. I’m super happy with life,” she said. “That list [of medical issues] doesn’t stop, but that list doesn’t hold me back from anything. I won’t let it.”

What an inspiring woman.

• chronic illness
• Modern Family
• Sarah Hyland