Natalie Cole got a transplant

[twirl]

I just read it on yahoo

she did not have to wait long or do dialysis --- I guess   

wait, she is 59 and has done dialysis since Sept....   not a long time




EDITED: Moved to News Section - Sluff/Admin

[Brightsky69]

Must be nice!! Hey ! I don't wanna be on dialysis anymore...where is my kidney? Oh that's right I am not famous....no kidney for me.

[Stacy Without An E]

The story is pretty much the same AP story for CNN, Yahoo News and Google News.  All it says is that she received a kidney transplant at Cedars-Sanai, but doesn't say where the kidney came from.  Was it living donor or did she somehow magically become part of the "must-have-it-now" emergency portion of the list.

I'm not going to judge her early transplant until I have all the facts, but something is truly missing from the story.

[RightSide]

This probably belongs in the News forum.

Still, it's good news.

[David13]

I certainly hope it is not a case of another celebrity jumping to the head of the line. . .

[The Wife]

I found this on the net: 

"The kidney came from a deceased organ donor through the regional organ procurement agency, One Legacy," her rep said in a statement.

[jonn r]

i am so fing mad about this.....she goes on larry king and look....she now has a kidney.....must be really nice to have money to get what you want.....this is going to sound wrong but i hope it stops working......

[LightLizard]

who here would say, if offered a kidney, 'oh, i don't want it, there are people that have been waiting much longer than me, give it to one of them.'

 

[The Wife]

Perhaps, in the future, all people will be seen as equal.   Maybe she will use her fame to speak for those who will never get a chance to have their voice heard and in the long run, do more good than just get a kidney for herself.  I wish her well.

[Wenchie58]

Perhaps it was the luck of the draw...some don't wait as long as others.  Many of you have been waiting years....I consider myself very lucky that I was listed for just 15 months.  I was blessed to get a new kidney BEFORE dialysis.  It happens...and I have no money...no fame...and no Larry King.

I might could get on a Gong Show if they still had one!

[The Wife]

That's good to know Whenchie.  I imagine there are many factors when it comes to getting a kidney. 

[Wattle]

  I imagine there are many factors when it comes to getting a kidney.

Antigen match and luck. Of which I have neither.   

She is one lucky girl. Hopefully she looks after her gift and its lasts a long time.

[Brightsky69]

I don't begruge her a kidney. There has got to be something up when famous people seems to get transplants really quickly.

I did read an article about her and the first line was Natalie Cole finally receives a kidney transplant. What do they mean finally? She was only on dialysis for 7 months.

[The Wife]

My hubby has been on dialysis for two-and-a-half years and he hasn't even received a call from the transplant people.  I have no idea what takes place or what they have to do to see if he's even eligible for one.  What are antigens?

If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't know anything.

[redz812]

I was surprised too that she received a kidney so quickly. Does anyone know what One Legacy is? Is that some private listing that has nothing to do with UNOS??

Also, can HepC reoccurr and cause this transplanted kidney to be damaged?

[Meinuk]

You can be listed at 20% function.  I was listed at 15% (June '05).  And if I remember correctly, it was a while back that she was diagnosed.  For me, the listing process took 2 months, and then it was just hurry up and wait.

Of course, in those years, I traveled to Egypt, Turkey and Europe (where no one knew that I was "sick" and they thought that my virgin fistula was just a weird bump on my arm).  Then, 18 months later, I started dialysis, waited almost 2 more years, and then I got the call. http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=10893.msg187492#msg187492.

So, even if it appears that she waited a short time (and relatively speaking, I know that my 3.5 years was short). You can accumulate time on the list BEFORE you start dialysis.

[willowtreewren]

When she made the announcement on Larry King, though, there were donors coming out of the woodwork for her.

Wouldn't it be grand if they still offered their kidney in an undirected live donation?

Not much chance of that, though. 

I would never wish for Natalie's kidney to fail as I wouldn't wish that on anyone. but sometimes life really doesn't seem fair. Like having O+ blood so that O+ kidneys can go to anyone on the list meaning an O+ person has the longest wait of all...

Oh, oh. I feel a rant coming on, so I better stop.
Aleta

[Tinah1968]

Here is the link

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=410409&gt1=28102

[Meinuk]

from Tinah's link  http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=410409&gt1=28102

Cole had been receiving dialysis three times a week since September [08] . She still continued to perform, even overseas, in support of her latest album, the Grammy-winning "Still Unforgettable,"

The kidney dialysis is unrelated to Cole's struggle with hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. She announced her hepatitis diagnosis last year [08] and said that the disease was likely caused by her drug use years ago.

Cole received painful chemotherapy to treat the hepatitis and "within four months, I had kidney failure," she told Larry King on his CNN show last month. Without a donor, she would need dialysis for the rest of her life, she said.

According to One Legacy Stats:  http://www.onelegacy.org/prod/components/donation/nationalstats.html

# of Kidneys harvested 2008    605

# of people waiting for Kidney (in CA):   16,527

Either she has AMAZING luck (yes, some have gotten the call soon after being listed.  She has a child born in 1978 - I wonder what her PRA is?) OR....... we should all move to Beverly Hills and do national media when waiting for a kidney. (yeah, I see the irony - but I didn't do national press until AFTER my transplant!)

Announces Hep C in '08; (now this is an assumption) Did she start treating  Hep C in summer 08? Or had she been treated prior and had CKD4 for a while before she announced?, kidneys fail summer '08, dialysis September '08; Transplant from wait list MAY '09 [less than a year from kidney failure] 

All of this hinges on when she was in CKD4 & listed - was it before the initial announcement or after?  You don't always start dialysis as soon as your kidneys fail (unlikely, but I am leaving room for benefit of the doubt here).


I can't knock her for not wanting a living donor - I couldn't do it.  But I would like to know the more of the details of her deceased donor transplant journey.

[LightLizard]

Also, can HepC reoccurr and cause this transplanted kidney to be damaged?

that is a possibility. hep C is basically a viral infection that resides in the liver and slowly reproduces
over time, inundating the blood.
i was infected at the age of 2 through a blood transfusion, but the symptoms didn't show until my 50's. some never show symptoms. but, once you have it, you have it for life. sometimes, it can go in to remission, but there is always a possibility of re-occurrance, sooner or later...
i found it interesting that the report above stated that her kidneys were destroyed by the chemotherapy applied to treat the hep C. the usual treatment is interferon, so i'm a little confused at this feature. i've always wanted to ask my nephrologist exactly what destroyed my kidneys. i suspect it was the interferon treatments that did it. they almost killed me and i had to be taken off of it after 6 weeks. i doubt that i would get a clear answer for that question, so i'll probably never ask.

[redz812]

I still don't understand what One Legacy is.

[monrein]

http://www.onelegacy.org/prod/components/

[Sunny]

I live in California and I've been on that list for 5 freakin years.
How did she pull it off so quickly? Because she's famous, that's how! Money and fame go a long way in this world.

[redz812]

Another drug addict superstar gets an organ.....big surprise!

I have read the One Legacy website and still don't understand what it is. Is it independant of the national organ donor listings? Do you pay some fee to join their listing?

[kimcanada]

Geez you know I always try to keep my head in a good space, but I am having a hard time feeling happy about Nat and her new kidney...

First off she missed a great opportunity to educate people about kidney disease

and second I get scared letting on if I have a drink, and here she is blabbing about her drug use...

That settles it, I am not happy