Ailing Natalie Cole now has a new kidney.
The 59-year-old singer underwent successful kidney transplant surgery "and is resting comfortably," publicist Maureen O'Connor said Wednesday. Cole will postpone her summer tour, which was set to begin June 5 and run through November, as she recovers.
Natalie had been receiving dialysis three times a week since September. She still continued to perform, even overseas, in support of her latest album, the Grammy-winning "Still Unforgettable,"
The kidney dialysis is unrelated to Natalie's struggle with hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. She announced her hepatitis diagnosis last year and said that the disease was likely caused by her drug use years ago.
Natalie received painful chemotherapy to treat the hepatitis and "within four months, I had kidney failure," she told Larry King last month. Without a donor, she would need dialysis for the rest of her life, she said.
After her appearance on Larry King Live, she received countless letters from people offering to give her a kidney. But a regional organ-procurement agency, One Legacy, found a kidney for her.
"I'm committed to working. I'm a fighter, not a chump," she said in an interview with People last year. "The timing is intense. The album is special to me, and here I am sick. But you know the saying: These are the best of times and the worst of times. So we'll barrel through."
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