Fans Are Applauding Sarah Hyland For Showing Off Her 'Kidney Bump' To The World

Sarah was born with kidney dysplasia, which means that her kidneys did not grow normally when she was in the womb, which prevents them from doing their job in your body.

Unfortunately, the transplant was not successful, and Sarah had to undergo dialysis, which is when a medical device filters the blood for you that your kidney is unable to.

Sarah was initially hesitant about accepting, saying, "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."

The second transplant was a success, although it hasn't come without it's struggles for Sarah. One of these struggles has been the bulge over her kidney.

This creates a bulge on her lower abdomen. “I call it my KUPA: kidney upper [expletive] area. Always have. Will forever.”

“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,” she said.

“Being like, ‘KUPA will show. I really want to wear this dress and you can't hide it.'"

This issue came up in the past when fans criticized her caption on one of her Instagram posts.

She joked, "Why diet if you can hide it?" Some fans were a bit upset by Sarah's joke due to the fact that the actress is quite slim, and therefore "didn't need" to be wearing Spanx at all.

It makes sense that Sarah might feel a bit self-conscious about the bulge, especially given the media's general love of jumping to the conclusion that celebrities are pregnant.

Sarah performed her new song, "Met At A Party" with Jordan McGraw at the Teen Choice Awards this week, and proudly showed off her bulge.

"I was terrified. I was excited. There was a PHENOMENAL crowd supporting us the entire way through. Thank you so much to everyone who watched!"

"And a final thank you to my ever changing self confidence for making the decision to not wear spanx and let my KUPA (kidney upper [expletive] area) shine like the badass [expletive] she is," Sarah finished.

One comment had a new acronym for KUPA: "Kicking, undeniably, performance ass!" and others raved about her performance being seen internationally.

Another comment read, "Your KUPA is a champion. That performance was amazing. We are giving you a standing ovation."

Four months ago Sarah took to Instagram to bring awareness to the scars on her abdomen from her multiple kidney surgeries.

Sarah captioned her photo, "Hey @theellenshow I know you’re besties with Jen but does she wear your underwear outside of her jeans like me? #showyourscars"

People like this commenter, who explained that she hoped her child would grow up to be as proud of his scar as Sarah is.

A lot of comments told their own stories about their kidney transplants or surgeries, and how it took them a long time to learn to love and show off their scars.

Sarah shared this magazine cover with the caption, "I say words here that hopefully others can relate to and feel like they’re not alone."

Her dedication is inspiring, and so is her story. As one commenter said, "An inspiration to all of us who are struggling!!!"

We look forward to seeing so much more from Sarah, whether it's acting, singing, or just being her undeniably real self.

Sarah and her boyfriend, Wells Adams from The Bachelor franchise, recently got engaged after two years of dating. It looks like everything is coming up Sarah!