HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Grammy Award-winning singer Natalie Cole has been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, according to the Associated Press.
The disease was discovered during a routine doctor’s visit.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Grammy Award-winning singer Natalie Cole has been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, according to the Associated Press.
The disease was discovered during a routine doctor’s visit.
“Natalie has had a terrific response to her medication and is now virus negative,” Dr. Graham Woolf, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at U.C.L.A./Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said in a statement. “This gives her an increased chance of cure.”
“But, she has also suffered significant side effects from the anti-viral medicine, which is the only FDA authorized treatment for hepatitis C,” he continued. “Her side effects include fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration but she is recovering from these.”
Hepatitis C is a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. It is believed that Cole contacted the illness as a result of her past drug use, which she documented in her 2000 autobiography, Angel On My Shoulder.
The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, the 58-year-old singer has gone on to achieve her own success, racking up eight Grammy Awards over the course of her career. Her latest album, “Still Unforgettable,” is due to be released on Sept. 9. It will be a follow up to 1991’s “Unforgettable … With Love,” which featured her own arrangements of her father’s greatest hits.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have learned so much from my past experiences,” Cole said. “I am embraced by the love and support of my family and friends; I am committed to my belief in myself and in my abiding faith to meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination. This is how I intend to deal with this current challenge in my life.”
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