(NNPA) - Singer Natalie Cole has been overwhelmed with offers of fans' kidneys after revealing on TV that she requires a transplant.
Cole was diagnosed last year with hepatitis C. While appearing on Larry King Live, the 59-year-old explained that after undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatments, her kidney ''stopped functioning.''
''I couldn't breathe,'' she said. ''They stopped processing the fluid that was starting to build up in my body ... Dialysis is keeping me alive,'' Cole said, describing her visits to the hospital three times a week.
Before the program had finished, host Larry King passed Cole printed emails from viewers offering up their organs. ''There are some great human beings out there,'' Cole said.
Cole attributes her hepatitis C to sharing needles 25 years ago.
Before entering rehab in 1984, she had been using heroin, LSD and cocaine. At the time of her diagnosis she said she would ''meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination'', but she has yet to find a donor match.
Information from the London Mirror contributed to this report.
