By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

Damn! Not Natalie Cole too. For the last few years I've heard about more and more people discovering to have contracted Hepatitis C.


 

Being gay and knowing a lot of gay men, its been no secret that this disease has become common and associated with many who are HIV positive. It doesn't matter if you pretend that the elephant isn't in the room, if its there, its there.
 
 
 
In the past Natalie has had her issues with drugs and believes that this was likely contracted during her heroin use years but remained dormant for 25 years. Now my understanding is that you can not pen-point the moment especially if it were 25 years ago, especially if you have had sex within the 25 years.

Not to get into Natalie's business but she's been married since her drug use days which were with first husband, the writer and producer, the late Marvin Yancy, she married again, divorced again, and may have had sexual relations after her second marriage to Andre Fischer of the group Rufus and later producer, or perhaps she's received a blood transfusion while in the hospital for whatever reason, within the 25 years.

Many may remember that Pamela Lee claims to have received it from ex husband, Tommy Lee. And the Judd's mom, Naomi Judd, the first person that I ever heard that had this condition, had to deal with it for a year before her doctor's discovered what it was and Ms. Judd was a nurse, so she had some medical knowledge. What I'm saying in short, is that its doesn't matter how it happened. The situation is, "How do you deal with it now?"

 
 
 
Natalie was quoted in People magazine, "I've learned a lot of lessons." "Yes, I could have handled some things better. But they've also made me who I am today." end quote.

Also in the same article from People magazine: Although she is still undergoing chemo until the end of the year to improve her chances of being cured, Cole's doctor confirms she is already virus negative after more than three months of treatments.

This is wonderful news. This sounds like a breakthrough, as many who have Hep C., have tried the other treatments available, even though the numbers decreased, the disease still remains detectable/positive. I hope and pray that the chemo treatment will be made available to all that need it, no matter the medical coverage.

 
 
 
Moving forward, Natalie's philosophy has always been, "The show must go on!" And has always found strength in her faith and also in her music. She has planned to start her, "Still Unforgettable" tour as of October 2008. A CD of the same title was released on September 9, and again, she and her dad, on record, make beautiful music together. The first released is " Walkin My Baby Back Home." On one of the evening magazine shows, Natalie spoke briefly about her love for this timeless beautiful music. This time around, she is the CD's executive producer.

She has cut her hair short, since she lost some of her hair due to the chemo, however, hair short or long, she still looks beautiful, sounds great and looks like a star.

Unfortuately, Ms. Cole was admitted into the hospital at the timing of this article, due to kidney failure. Now she's dealing with Hep C. and kidney failure. Ms. Natalie continue to pray. Our prayers and love are with you, get well soon! We love you.

More Natalie info, go to: http://www.nataliecole.com/

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