Cole, now 60, was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2008. Her doctors suspected that it may have come from Cole’s heroin addiction some 25 years earlier. Cole endured treatment for Hepatitis C, but ultimately developed kidney disease. Unfortunately, the medication that helped her liver destroyed her kidneys and necessitated a kidney transplant.
During this difficult period, Natalie’s adopted sister, Carole, was dying of cancer. Amazingly, her kidney transplant took place on the same day that her sister died - and the kidney she received came from a woman whose own sister was devastated by loss.
In her book, Cole talks about her influences and her loved ones – from her father to luminaries like Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughn, who influenced her music. Cole was already an R&B star due to her hit albums, but in 1991, she had her greatest success with by “dueting” with her late father on “Unforgettable ... With Love.” The album won six Grammy Awards and sold 14 million copies catapulting Cole to worldwide acclaim.
Yet, with all her success, Cole had her struggles with men (she married three times) and drugs as detailed in her 2000 autobiography, “Angel On My Shoulder.” For a time, her mother, with whom she has had a strained relationship, assumed custody of her son, Robbie. Cole eventually went into and completed rehab, but the damage was done, and in 2009, she needed a kidney transplant after receiving dialysis treatment for almost a year.
“How I got my kidney is colorful,” Cole told Thirdage.com. “My nurse was the donor's aunt. Watching me, both said, 'Wish we could do something for her.' The niece, eight months pregnant, became brain dead. Her baby is now with his father. The couple, from Central America and living in L.A., were not married. All are in the nursing profession. All are donors."
Even fans who weren’t aware of her illness noted Cole’s physical appearance change drastically when the artist became very thin and started wearing a cropped haircut. She says she lost 25 pounds and only regained 10. But some good came of Cole’s struggle - she credits the disease with bringing her closer to her mother, who had already lost two children.
Cole is now the spokesperson for the University Kidney Research Organization, a charity that raises funds and hopes to find a cure for kidney disease.
“As someone who has been affected by a form of kidney disease, I recognize that I survived kidney failure and am alive and healthy today because of the availability of improved treatments, procedures, and medications devised from decades of medical research,” Cole said in a statement. “The staggering toll that kidney diseases exact makes it imperative that we vastly increase study in this field, and I am pleased and proud to support the efforts of UKRO to do so. Through my involvement, I hope to bring greater recognition to UKRO’s fundraising efforts for kidney research.”
To see where Natalie Cole is appearing next, click here. To read an excerpt from “Love Brought Me Back,” click here.
By: Tonya Pendleton
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