CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Saundra Adams will be the first to say, December 14th is an emotional one for her. It was the last day she saw her daughter Cherica Adams, 20 years ago.
Cherica Adams was pregnant with her son, Chancellor Lee, when she was shot multiple times. She died but her son survived after doctors performed an emergency c-section. He was deprived of oxygen in utero and now lives with cerebral palsy
The former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth, Adams’ boyfriend and Chancellor’s father, was released from prison in October 2018 after serving 19 years for orchestrating Adams’ murder.
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Sitting at a long table inside the Original Pancake House in Charlotte on Saturday morning, Adams explained that some days it feels like it’s only been two weeks since Cherica died, and it’s those days that are tough.
Then, she looked over at her grandson, Cherica’s son, Chancellor Lee Adams.
“Today, I’m focusing not what I seem to have lost, but remembering and honoring and celebrating what I have left,” Saundra said with a smile. “I feel like I have Cherica left with me through Chancellor.”
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Cherica’s close friends and other family members quickly filled in the table, all gathered there to remember this day, and celebrate what Saundra says was Cherica’s ‘transition.’
“I believe in heaven, and I believe she just left the physical Earthly plane for another dimension,” Saundra explained. “I don’t feel like she’s gone forever. She will live again.”
It didn't take long for stories and memories to fill the conversation, and laughter quickly followed.
“We went off to college together,” Cherica’s sister, Jajuana Moonie recalled. “The rest of us would roll out to go to class first thing in the morning in sweats, but she woke up every morning and was flawless when she steps into the classroom. She didn’t have to get ready, she was always ready.”
Even in her final days, Moonie said Cherica was preparing.
“Losing her physically was difficult, but we were prepared because she didn’t leave here and we not know what she felt about each one of us,” Moonie said. “A lot of times, people lose people and they don’t know, there’s this lingering feeling in the air. People have regrets and she didn’t live that way.”
A sentiment shared by everyone, is that Cherica was intentional about most aspects in her life, including surviving 28 days after being shot four times.
“She just had a fire and a will to live,” Moonie said. “She decided when she would leave. You don’t get to choose that for me. You do not get to choose to take my son away either. That’s not your choice. ‘I chose him,’ and that’s what she said, ‘I chose this and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that he is well before I choose to transition.’”
Everyone talked about Cherica’s big heart, her love for food and the incredible amount she was able to accomplish in her 24 years.
“She was just phenomenal,” Moonie said. “You may have been in business with her, you may have interacted with her, but it’s the people you don’t hear talk about her who’s lives she impacted the most.”
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