Howie Dorough, Hottest Activist
Source: Howied.com
The morning after his first performance at the MTV Video Music
Awards where he received his very first Moonman, Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough
got the call that his sister Caroline was in the hospital. On Saturday,
September 12th, 1998, before he could fly to the North Carolina hospital where
she was, Caroline Dorough-Cochran, 37, passed away after fighting the chronic
autoimmune disease lupus for 13 years.
Being one-fifth of an international pop phenomenon can seem like, as
Backstreet's fan anthem "Larger Than Life" puts it, little more than
"flashes of light." Relationships with family, friends, and
girlfriends must frequently be pushed aside for the good of the group. "My
life has gone so full-speed on a roller coaster, sometimes, I don't know if I
really realize she's gone," Howie D. told the New York Daily News last
June. But Howie now hopes to use his career as a means to remember
Caroline through The Caroline Dorough-Cochran Lupus Memorial Foundation.
Although everyone from Britney Spears to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith seems to
have lent his or her name to some charity foundation, Howie is unusually
involved with his Florida-based organization, which he formed in 1999 to fund
lupus research and to raise awareness of the disease. He is both its most
visible spokesperson and its president, assisted by various family members who
serve as directors and board members.
He performed two benefit concerts in South America (lupus is more likely to
strike the Latino population). Last June, he raised over $100,000 at the Lupus
2000 benefit in Orlando, Florida by auctioning off Backstreet and other music
memorabilia, as well as two dates with the highest bidders that went for $15,500
each. During his Christmas break from Backstreet duties, Howie continued to use
his celebrity persona for good: he allowed fans to spend several days with him
and his family on the Lupus 2000 Cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. He even recorded
a song with his sister Pollyanna, an
aspiring singer, called "Fly To Heaven," which the duo dedicated to
Caroline and hopes to release as a single.
Though it's been more than two years since Caroline's death, Howie continues to
be heavily dedicated to his foundation. On Valentine's Day 2001, he presented
the Foundation of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance in Canada with $27,500 from
Caroline's memorial's funds. The good deeds seem to be rubbing off on his
bandmates, too: in the new Black and Blue tour, immediately before the
Backstreet-penned save-the-world song "The Answer To Our Lives," each
member takes a moment to promote his own charity, in hopes of inspiring the
thousands of screaming fans to make the world a better place. He told The
Chatham Daily News, "I don't look at Caroline's death in vain. Maybe God
did this for a reason."
Donations to the The Caroline Dorough-Cochran Lupus Memorial Foundation should
be sent to:
The Caroline Dorough-Cochran Lupus Memorial Foundation
4610 Limpscomb Street NE, Ste #2
Palm Bay, FL 32905
Phone: 321-725-8599
Fax: 321-725-9225
Source: http://www.howied.com