AS HE BATTLED LEUKEMIA, 7-year-old Liam Lowe raised awareness — and thousands of dollars — for clean water wells in Kenya.


Liam Lowe had a knack for helping people — in a country halfway around the world or in a hospital bed next door.

Battling leukemia for the second time in less than a year, the boy from Abilene, Texas, made it his mission to cheer up his fellow patients, especially after they got a “poke” from a nurse. He knew what that was like.

“I remember a couple of toddler girls he made friends with,” said his mother, Amy. “He would go and sit next to them, talk to them and make funny faces. Making others smile and laugh was obviously something he thought about and planned for.”

Liam’s sense of caring also will quench thirst for hundreds of people in Africa with no access to clean water. Friends, family and even strangers have donated more than $32,000 in his name to construct water wells.