CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Nov. 16, 1999, Chancellor Lee Adams was born in Charlotte, shortly after a hitman shot his mother Cherica Adams four times in a drive-by ambush.
His father, former Carolina Panther first-round draft pick Rae Carruth, would be convicted of masterminding the attempted murder of his own son by hiring the hitman who shot his pregnant girlfriend.
Now it is November 2020.
And the boy they couldn't kill has become a young man who will celebrate his 21st birthday Monday.
"The 21st birthday is significant in any young man's life, because that's the transition from a boy to manhood," said Saundra Adams, who has raised her grandson, Chancellor Lee, in Charlotte since his birth. "And I'm especially grateful. Because if I had listened to the prognosis of those doctors early on, we never would have been here today."
For years during our interviews, Saundra Adams has referred to Chancellor Lee as her "miracle boy." But as the three of us sat together at a north Charlotte park recently, she stopped herself from using the phrase again.
Said Adams: "Now he's my miracle young man. ... And we are celebrating what we have ahead of us, instead of looking back on what we lost."
Cherica Adams saved her son's life on the night of his birth 21 years ago. Shot four times through her car window by hitman Van Brett Watkins in one of the most notorious crimes in North Carolina history, moaning in pain, Adams still managed to call 911 and direct rescuers to exactly where she was.
Adams died four weeks later in the hospital, unable to recover from her grievous wounds. Carruth panicked and fled inside the trunk of a friend's Toyota Camry soon afterward, eventually being caught by the FBI in Tennessee.
But Chancellor Lee lived thanks to that haunting, 12-minute emergency call his mother made — a call that both saved her son and implicated his father.
Chancellor Lee has struggled with cerebral palsy and permanent brain damage owing to the traumatic circumstances of his birth. He was deprived of oxygen and blood during the chaotic minutes after his mother was shot just after midnight on Rea Road in Charlotte, not long after she and Carruth had gone to see the movie "The Bone Collector" together.
While some 21-year-olds are working or entering the latter stages of college, Chancellor Lee continues to work on buttoning his shirt without help. He usually speaks one or two words at a time — "Yeah" and "Thank you" are among the most common.
But the walker he once used regularly now has been almost retired. After years of physical therapy, he now walks with only his grandmother's hand for support. And his beaming smile is a constant — what Saundra calls her grandson's "Smile Ministry." Over the past few months, when Chancellor Lee had to wear a COVID-mandated mask, people missed that smile so much that Saundra bought her grandson a clear mask to wear so the "Smile Ministry" could start ministering again.
Is he excited about his upcoming birthday?
"Yeah!" Chancellor Lee said.
