Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough's older sister Caroline Dorough-Cochran, 37, died in 1998 of complications from lupus. Since then the teen idol has helped raise funds to research the disease, which causes the immune system to attack the body's cells and tissues. Scoop caught up with Dorough, 27, following a Lupus Foundation benefit in Los Angeles last week.

People: Did u know about lupus before your sisters illness?

Howie: I really didn't know anything at all. It's such a hush-hush disease. It's weird tho, because it is more prevalent than leukemia, sickle cell anemia, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis combined. Data has shown that 1.4 million people have been diagnosed with lupus.

P: Tell us about Caroline.

H: Caroline was always high spirited. She never let the disease take away her time. She was a social butterfly: she could party with the best of us. She never wanted anyone to feel sorry for her.

P: She attended a Backstreet Boys concert just days before she died.

H: I was so happy to have her there. A week later we were recieving the best group video award at the MTV VMAs. It was a high point of our career. The next day my brother called me and said, "She's really not doing well. She's taking a turn for the worst."

P: And her death led to the Caroline Dorough-Cochran Lupus Memorial Foundation.

H: My sister was going through a lot of tests at Duke University. I got to know her doctor really well. He asked me to use my status as an artist to bring more awareness to the disease. I know Elton John has done a lot of work with the AIDS education, and Sting has done a lot for raising awareness of the rain forest, so I realized it was my turn.

P: What have you learned.

H: I have learned that I am so grateful and so thankful for what I have with the Backstreet Boys. But I'm more thankful for my health and that my family is so important to me. You don't realize all this sometimes-you can get caught up in all of it, and you don't realize how good you have it until you lose someone close to you.