Natalie Cole
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 76)
THE GRIEVING PROCESS HAS BEEN
excruciating. “I’ve lost some very spe-
cial people,” Natalie says, “but Cookie
is the toughest. There’s a part of me
that’s missing now. I don’t expect that I
will ever totally get over it.”
But thinking through the immen-
sity of it all—how she received the gift
of life, in the wake of such loss—has
helped. Natalie now sees her donor as
one of her “angels,” sent to pull her out
of a dire situation. Although privacy
laws restrict the release of details about
donors, Natalie knows this: she was a
thirtysomething, healthy female who
died suddenly, and her family, aware
of Natalie’s need, directed the kidney
to her. “I just find it extraordinary that
they would have said my name,” Natalie
says, her voice breaking. “To have your
life saved by someone you don’t even
know—oh, God. God bless them.
“When I look back, I can see the
hand that has plucked me out of or put
me into special situations. I don’t totally
understand it. I know that God has had
my back, even when I was screwing up.
And I now know he has a plan for me.”
JUST OVER TWO MONTHS AFTER
her surgery, Natalie Cole, looking fit
and youthful in a strapless sundress,
sits in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel
and tells the story of her transplant for
the first time. She wears her dark hair
short; it fell out when she was on inter-
feron, and when it began to grow back,
she decided she liked it in a pixie style.
Yes, absolutely, she says, she is ready to
start a new chapter in her life, and her
easy smile shows it. “I didn’t know that
I could feel this good again.”
Though she has shown no signs of
kidney rejection, she will have to take
immunosuppressants for the rest of her
life. She’ll also be routinely monitored
for symptoms of hepatitis C. “But hers
has been as uncomplicated a course as
we’ve ever seen,” says Mittleman, who
spoke at Natalie’s request. “I’m optimis-
tic that she’s going to have an improved
state of health from here on.”
So what about all those plans that she
believes someone has for her? First off,
Natalie says, she would like to thank
the family of her donor in person. “I
have written them a letter and would
love to meet them,” she says, “when-
ever they’re ready.”
In the meantime Natalie wants to
advocate for kidney research and organ
donation. “We are born with two kid-
neys and only need one to survive,” she
says. “Maybe God gave us the other one
so that we could give it away.” While
the hardships she’s endured have
toughened her in some ways, they’ve
softened her in others, she says: “You
get sick, and then you get well, and if
you don’t have more compassion for
human beings after, then something’s
definitely wrong.”
She’s also cherishing time with her
circle of loved ones. In August she
spent a weekend in Santa Barbara with
her twin sisters, and she and Engelstein
are planning an end-of-the-year get-
away to Hawaii. She’s even consider-
ing romance again. “I believe there’s
someone out there who will treat me
like a princess, but it has to be the right
person—because they’ve got egos, and
I’m not a little wallflower,” she says.
