Posts Tagged ‘natalie cole’

Natalie Cole Could Get Transplant From Son

February 4th, 2009

Sick singer Natalie Cole says she could get a kidney from her son.

The jazz star, who sufferers from Hepatitis C, has told ET that Robert Yancy, her son from her first marriage, has offered to donate the organ.

Now they have to wait to find out if he is a match for her body, and then get ready for the transplant.

At the Grammy Salute to Jazz event in Los Angeles, Natalie — who was diagnosed early last year — told ET’s Thea Andrews: "We certainly hope to [have a transplant].

"We just don’t know when.

"My son may be a possible match, which would be great.

"It’s very sweet and kind of strange to have people offer something like that.

 

"It’s a big deal for the recipient more than it is for the donor, because they’ve got two kidneys and we just need one!"

The star, who currently has dialysis treatments three times a week, added that recovery from the transplant will be long and she will not be able to work.

"I’m not looking forward to it, but in the end it’ll be worth it," she said. "I just love what I do. I’ll be dancing and singing ’til I die!"

 

Natalie has said in the past that it’s likely the disease is related to her drug abuse in the 1970s and 80s.

 

Watch ET tonight, Feb 4, to see the rest of the interview.

Natalie Cole: I’m a Trooper

October 22nd, 2008

It’s been a bumpy road lately for Natalie Cole – the singer recently revealed she has been struggling with Hepatitis C, a disease she thinks she contracted in her drug-ridden past, and has been in and out of the hospital.

 

And now she has a new health battle to fight.

 

"They told me… ‘Your lungs have filled up with fluid and your kidney is functioning at 10%,’ " Natalie reveals to Entertainment Tonight about a recent health scare in NYC. "They would have found me either unconscious or dead. I think I was on my way out."

 

The "Unforgettable" singer is still battling Hepatitis C, and she’s now on dialysis.

 

"I was in denial that I was close to dying until after 3-4 days of being hospitalized and them putting me on dialysis," she says. "I had a lot of time to think. The first thing I knew is that I will never work the same way again. Three hours a day, three times a week (during dialysis) I just sit there and am glad that there is something to keep me going."

 

Natalie’s next step to wellness could involve a serious step – an organ transplant.

 

"The kidneys could repair themselves, but we still don’t know," she admits. "We’re looking at a possible transplant. My son and sister have already volunteered."

 

But even with her health problems,the daughter of music legend Nat King Cole is determined to fight through it all.

 

"I haven’t felt as good as I do today in 7 weeks. I feel really good. I’m a trooper," she says. I’m one of those ‘the show must go on’ people! I’m a survivor. I don’t believe in giving up until the fat lady sings."

 

For the first part of a two-part interview, tune in to ET tomorrow, Oct. 23, with the follow-up on Oct. 24.

Natalie Cole Out of the Hospital

October 2nd, 2008

After suffering a setback in her battle against Hepatitis C that sent her to the hospital last month, singer Natalie Cole has left the hospital and returned home, according to Entertainment Tonight.

 

Her rep says that she is "doing much better," and receiving kidney dialysis not related to the Hepatitis C, which he adds is "under control" now.

 

ET also spoke to Quincy Jones recently, who had expressed his worries over her health.

 

"We are very concerned about her. She’s not doing well right now," he said. "We had a doctor we met at a benefit the other night that says he has the new technology that could save her with Hepatitis C, so we’re trying desperately to reach her to get in touch with her because she’s in the hospital as we speak."

Quincy worked with Natalie’s father Nat King Cole, and has known her since her childhood.

 

"I worked with her father in 1960, [with] my band in Europe and Natalie was seven years old then and she went to school with my daughter," he said. "She was a sweetie back then."

Natalie Cole Hospitalized

September 19th, 2008

Natalie Cole, daughter of legendary singer Nat King Cole and an accomplished musician in her own right, has been hospitalized in NYC in relation to her battle with hepatitis C.

 

"She’s had a setback and has gone into the hospital," a source close to the family tells Entertainment Tonight.

 

“In 1980-1982, I was doing heroin,” Natalie said when she first announced her fight with hepatitis C. “The first day that ‘This Will Be’ came out on the radio I was on my way to get heroin.”

 

Although she had been healthy since recovering from her drug problems, her dark past has come back to haunt her.

“This is a virus that was dormant in my body for 25 years,” she said recently. “I had no symptoms, was feeling great, working out like a crazy person — and this just keeled me over, like a feather.”

 

Joss Stone: The Girl Who Loves to Say Yes

October 8th, 2007

Singer Joss Stone knows a thing or do about doing a good deed — performing at the Band Aid 20, Live 8 and Live Earth benefit concerts, being named World’s Sexiest Vegetarian by PETA and much more. So when OK! caught up with the 20-year-old Brit this weekend at the Frosted Pink event in L.A., which aimed to raise money and awareness for various forms of female-specific cancers, and where Joss performed a duet with Natalie Cole, we asked her how she manages to fit her charitable work into her schedule.

“People ask me and I say ‘Yes!’ Simple as that!!” the singer explained to OK!. “When people ask me to help anything that I believe needs helping, then you don’t need to explain why. If I can, and I have time in my day, I’ll do it. Why not? There’s nothing that would stop me from helping people.”

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