Here’s one way to raise awareness about a debilitating disease. Openly share every frightful detail about how you contracted it and then, as this is Washington, top if off with a little political chatter. That basically sums of singer Natalie Cole’s appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday to talk about what she’s been fighting since 2008, hepatitis C. “I was a drug user, I was a heroin user … I was in fact using dirty needles because of that environment,” said Cole, a former addict. “Hepatitis C was like the kiss of death, so when my doctor told me I had it 25 years later I couldn’t believe it, I was in absolute shock that this could live inside my body for 20-plus years.”
That being said, Cole noted how many with the disease contract it from a blood transfusion or needle prick. “Unless you were a drug user this is not your fault,” she said. “If you were a drug user — well, I mean, I accept the responsibility of what consequences I have had to pay.”
Though Cole has attached her name to the “Tune In To Hep C” campaign, she hasn’t fully studied the political stuff. “Beats me,” she answered to laughs when asked if President Obama’s health care legislation would do anything positive for those with the disease.
She is, however, a fan of the man. “I think it’s just unfortunate that President Obama has had so much — you’ll have to pardon me, but I just have to say it like I see it — he’s had so much s–t thrown at him,” she said. “I’m glad that we have a black president, it has shown us just how prejudiced we really are, because they are basically blaming this man for everything and they have really taken such pot shots at him, and it’s really not fair, so give him another four years and let him get it right.”
