We’re accustomed to celebrities being seated in restaurants ahead of we mere mortals, of receiving free gifts such as Versace dresses, Harry Winston gems and fast cars, just because they’re, ‘celebs’, but when it comes to human organ replacement, isn’t that a little farfetched.

But that appears to be the way of the world when it comes to Natalie Cole’s recent kidney transplant. No sooner had the daughter of the late crooning, Nat King Cole appeared on Larry King Live back in late March this year, than she’s in hospital recovering from a transplant.

Cole was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2008, and it is thought she contracted the potentially deadly virus from past drug use when she was addicted to LSD, cocaine and heroin before becoming clean from drugs in 1984 following a long stay in rehab.

In 2000 Cole appeared as herself in a movie about her life, Livin’ for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, which documented her downward spiral in the world of drugs and after winning her battle with drug abuse, Cole discovered that both her kidneys were effected by an illness and in between dialysis, which she had only been undergoing since September 2008, the Unforgettable singer told King’s audience that she was in search of a new kidney.

No sooner had the words left her lips than dozens of fans came forward offering their kidney’s to Miss Cole. They were all offers from people saying they would get tested to see whether their kidney could be donated. King handed a thick stack of paper to Cole. “These are all e-mails from dozens, dozens of people offering to be tested to see if they can match, who want to give you a kidney,” King said. After looking at the papers for a few seconds, Cole said, “There are some great human beings out there. That’s all I can say.’

And so it was on May 19, the 59-year-old singer received a kidney transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Doctors estimate recovery will take three to four months.

The Grammy Award winning Cole criticized Amy Winehouse in 2008 when she said, Amy didn‘t “deserve” to take home a clutch of Grammy Awards for her album Back to Black, when she was caught up in the throws of drug addiction, but its okay to have a kidney transplant resulting from the use of drugs?

Lets hope her up coming tour in support of her Grammy-winning album, Still Unforgettable, which has been temporarily postponed, will see Cole donating a large amount of the revenue from ticket sales to the search for transplants organs for the hundreds of less fortunate people out there who cant make appeals on Larry King Live!