A ‘Beyond Grateful’ Hilary Swank Opens Up About Her Father’s Lung Transplant — One Year Later

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Hilary Swank is happy her father, Stephen Swank, is alive. (Photo: Instagram)

Hilary Swank is feeling thankful this holiday season.

One year after her father, Stephen Swank, successfully underwent a lung transplant, the Oscar winner — who took a hiatus from Hollywood to be his caretaker while he recovered — shared a photo of them together and thanked his doctors and donor, for helping him pull through. Swank also had kind words for her fans who sent good wishes.

“This dear man, my dad, got a lung transplant a year ago today,” the Million Dollar Baby actress, 41, wrote on Instagram. “By the grace of God, brilliant doctors, an organ donor, much love, and many prayers from loved ones…and even complete strangers, he is alive today.”

She continued, “Thank you all for your care and kindness!! #IAmBeyondGrateful#Thankful #Blessed #I❤MyDad.”

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Daughter and proud father at an event in October 2001. (Photo: Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Swank told the Associated Press that she took 18 months off — the longest break of her career — to care for her dad, who was Chief Master Sergeant in the Oregon Air National Guard, a job which kept father and daughter apart a lot when the actress was growing up.

In July, she shared more details during an interview with HuffPo Live, saying, “My dad is living with me. I’m his sole caretaker right now. It’s a certain amount of time, but in a lifespan it’s a blink of an eye.”

As far as putting her career on the backburner goes, she shared, "There’s been job opportunities I’ve passed on and things that I said, ‘I can’t,’ but really what we’re here for is our family. There is nothing I want to do more other than being with my dad in this time of need. And if it wasn’t me taking care of him, I think I would always look back and regret that opportunity to be able to take care of him and help him through this extraordinary time.”

Swank continued, "We’re super close. The bond that we’ve made in this time, might make up for some of that time we didn’t have [when I was young]. We didn’t have that one-on-one time together. It’s actually kind of healing.”

During her time away from Hollywood, Swank fell in love with former tennis pro Ruben Torres, with whom she celebrated the holidays. And she’ll be back to work in early 2016 when production on the Starz series One Percent begins, among other projects.