16 gifts—one for each birthday with their miracle twins

Carrie and Chris Frye—28 years of marriage, two decades of philanthropic giving and the parents of twin 16-year-old boys. Those numbers tell a story—the story of a couple rooted in working hard, having fun and giving back. “We had mentors very early on in our lives who encouraged us to give back to the community, so we have always been intentional about giving,” Chris Frye shared. “It’s just after the boys were born we saw directly what our giving could support and we had the opportunity to change the vehicle we used for our giving.”

Welcoming a baby into the world is a time when many re-evaluate their estate planning. This was certainly true for Carrie and Chris Frye—though they took their planning one step further—ensuring their legacy plans not only took good care of their sons but provided for others as well.

Carrie and Chris planned and prayed to add to their family for some time. After conceiving their miracle baby boys, they were elated. Carrie soldiered through a tough pregnancy alongside her remarkable care team at Novant Health Randolph OBGYN. Carrie remembers week 19 of her pregnancy like it was yesterday, when the medical team identified complications and her care intensified.  “We were at the doctor every two weeks until I delivered 31 weeks into my pregnancy, welcoming our two precious baby boys into the world—Will and Jake.” Today they are 16 years old and sharing their first car. Through the gift of time and healing, Chris and Carrie focus on the silver lining of the boys’ NICU stay now.  “The 'NICU Club' isn’t one you want to join, but looking back our experience was positive—maybe the greatest gift was that our boys knew how to sleep and loved a schedule by the time they came home,” Carrie reflects.

Will and Jake came home within one week of each other. Jake graduated from the NICU first, four weeks after being born, and a week later Will came home. Settling into their new life as a family of four, Chris and Carrie thought often of the families they met during their NICU stay and their remarkable team of nurses and care providers. “Seeing other families who were in the NICU with us, understanding their struggle—it was easy to see who our giving would help,” Chris shared. During the boys’ toddler years, they would attend annual NICU reunions and keep up with their care team, but as time marched on and the boys’ schedules got busier, the Frye family’s engagement with the NICU morphed into something more intentional and involved other vehicles for giving back.

“Setting up our trust was a learning experience and showed us a process that offered the opportunity to think about how we want to pay it forward,” Chris shared. Chris and Carrie both knew they wanted to be very specific with their giving and wanted to ensure their planned gifts would have specific impact. “Our NICU nurses took amazing care of us and we were surrounded by many families that had different situations than us.  We knew our gift would be tangible and would directly help others,” Carrie reflected.  Every day Chris and Carrie are focused on serving others and ensuring their boys have every opportunity to go farther and do more than they could ever have done. “Our estate plan is a little like that,” Chris noted. “We want what we have built to go on and do more than we could ever do.”

Thanks to the Fryes' ongoing annual support and the promise of their planned gift to the Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital, our NICU team will continue providing personalized critical care to over 830 babies each year.

Your compassion saves lives

“Donors are the champions of our NICU. Their selfless support breathes new life into our mission and enables us to help our tiniest patients grow and thrive. Just as we nurture our NICU babies, donors nurture our hopes for a healthier tomorrow. Their kindness gives us the strength to help families turn adversity into a beautiful story like Will and Jake’s.”
—Phyllis, Nurse Manager