CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ On Nov. 16, 1999, the son of former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth was supposed to die.
Instead, Chancellor Lee Adams is turning 18 years old.
Chancellor Lee reaches this landmark as a gentle young man. He has lived his entire life in Charlotte protected and emboldened by a loving grandmother, Saundra Adams, who has raised him from birth.
The party she has planned for her grandson is not a traditional 18th birthday party, but Chancellor Lee Adams is not your typical 18-year-old.
He smiles more, for one thing. He also has cerebral palsy and permanent brain damage owing to the traumatic night of his birth.
That night caused the eventual death of his mother, Cherica Adams _ Saundra Adams' only biological child. Chancellor Lee seems untroubled by the dark circumstances that brought him into the world 10 weeks prematurely, however. He has known no other life other than the one that orbits around the beloved grandmother he calls "G-Mom."
For his party, Chancellor Lee plans to go to a pumpkin farm in the Charlotte area, accompanied by a couple of his friends from his therapeutic horse-riding class.
He will take a hayride. He will pet the animals in the petting zoo. He will eat the first piece of birthday cake, which will feature his favorite strawberry mousse filling as well as a picture of a horse.
"Chancellor will be in the starring role," Saundra Adams says, beaming. "And he deserves that. You only get to be 18 once."
We are sitting together in Charlotte's Freedom Park along with Chancellor Lee. It is early November. The leaves are turning from green to gold. Chancellor Lee used his walker _ pausing to carefully navigate a 2-inch divot in the asphalt _ to make it to the bench where he now sits.
Saundra and Chancellor Lee look happy. It has been a good year. This is in part because the extreme generosity of strangers and friends _ shepherded by an NFL assistant coach in San Francisco who once was close to Carruth _ that has allowed the Adamses to buy a brand new home in Charlotte.
