Lowrie plans birthday bash for charity

In a way, Alex Lowrie is fortunate to be making it to her 17th birthday.

So, instead of spending money on a huge birthday bash for herself, she has decided to invite everyone to a charity birthday dinner event May 16 at the Carolina Colours Pavilion in New Bern.

"I just didn't want to spend a lot of money on one night," said Lowrie, a junior at Havelock High School. "I decided I wanted to do something big to benefit charities."

That Lowrie will be making it to age 17 is thanks to her mother, Kathryn Lowrie, who had an option 16 years ago - receive treatment for cancer that could help save her life but could harm her unborn child or delay those treatments and risk her own life so that her child could be born.

"She could have gotten radiation, but it would have killed me," Alex Lowrie said.

Kathryn Lowrie gave birth on May 20, 1991, then had to wait six weeks to regain her strength before undergoing surgery for the cancer that had grown to life-threatening levels.

"I think it was more scary for my husband and her," Kathryn Lowrie said. "He (David) would have had to have raised a daughter on his own, and she would have grown up without a mother."

David Lowrie said his wife is lucky to be alive. Between the cancer and an infection that ravaged her body, she was about to receive last rights, he said.

"But, we were blessed - twice," he said, referring to his wife's and daughter's survival.

With her mother's defeat of cancer as a background, Alex Lowrie decided a portion of the proceeds from the dinner event would go to the American Cancer Society.

The other two charities are also close to Alex Lowrie. Her mother has taught special education students, so the teen will donate proceeds to the Special Olympics as well.

The other charity is To Write Love on Her Arms, which offers help to teens struggling with depression, addiction, self injury and suicide.

"I see how many teens can be affected by this," Lowrie said. "I want people to know that there is help, that there is something they can do to get help."

The 6:30 p.m. event will feature two local Christian bands, Before I Wake and Beyond Broken. The Chelsea restaurant in New Bern will cater the dinner. Art from high school students will be displayed and auctioned, with those proceeds going to charity as well.

The cost is $30 per person, and table sponsorships are also available. Tickets can be purchased by calling Alex Lowrie at 723-9858 or e-mailing her at alexylowrie@yahoo.com.

Lowrie, who will be Havelock High's student council president for the 2008-09 school year, said she has been interested in helping others since elementary school.

"In the fourth grade, they told us about these refugee camps, and I cried," she said. "We went door to door to collect school supplies and backpacks, and we ended up sending 85 backpacks full of supplies overseas for the children."

Lowrie doesn't turn 17 until May 20, but she is already looking ahead to her 18th birthday.

"I want to do it bigger and better next year," she said. "This is what I want to do with my life."