The diagnosis
 
"The day I was diagnosed, it was Dr. Jane Wey, a surgical oncologist," Berry said. "This is like another..." and she softly whispered, "Wow." Berry sat quiet for a minute, her eyes misting. "I'd gone through the mammogram, the biopsy. Everybody was moving very, very passionately, I could feel it. It was like I was in a movie and I'm the star person but I didn't know it was going to be "Hey, everything is cool. We are bringing you to another passage, taking you to another station. Every woman, everyone that came in, came in prayerfully. My weight was taken. My pressure. Information was gathered. And then this little lady, Dr. Wey, walks in. She began to tell me what the biopsy told. I could tell from the biopsy that something was wrong because the doctor and the technician were just so compassionate to me. Even the people at the desk, as if people knew something was going on but we are all about loving and not discussing. Dr. Wey was the one. She went through various kinds of procedures in telling me and I said, 'Doctor, what is this?' She said, 'We found cancer. There were several little dots on the MRI that I could see on the X-ray. They took some of those calcium deposits and from that we were able to detect cancer,' Wey told her.
 
"This was early October. And by the 10th of October my breast was removed," Berry said. "They wanted to hurry up because they were afraid it was spreading. They took a portion of my lymph nodes." Yet another operation that, because of her breathing, was high-risk. "I don't know why I have this condition. I didn't have it before the ostomy. It was such an emergency - this is what my doctors think - they had to do it right then. They had no time actually monitor my breathing. If they had, they may have been able to give me the right aid to breath better." So, the pulmonology staff is required to be in the operating room.
 
"Now, look at this. I have no insurance. I am the path of free service. But you know when you're going through something like this, you've got to have some kind of insurance. They told me I didn't qualify for Medicare, for Medicaid. The doctor over at Lord & Taylor told me, "Oh, don't you worry about a thing. You are going to have insurance. Mr. Walker," Wey had told Berry's husband, 'you go home and get this and that, and you come back.' This is right after the diagnosis. She'd just told me I have cancer.
 
"When you don't have insurance, they find samples," Berry continued. "Then, we get it (insurance). Two days later, I'm in the pulmonologist's office. 'How do you figure you don't have insurance?' the doctor asked. 'Look at your record it says right here, Medicare.' I said, "What?"
 
"'Hey, let's get these prescriptions. Let's get this woman breathing.' That woman had that thing gone through in two days," Berry said, tears filling her eyes as she sat silent for a few moments.

Help from her friends
 
"It's just so wonderful how it works," she said, her voice breaking. "I'm not a weak woman but I can't just believe that all of these things could happen like they have and I know every day God is saying, 'Here I am.'
 
One of the many people who has stood with Berry through her tribulations is Shirley Tyler.
 
"Her sister died of breast cancer," Berry explained. During the hurricane Tyler went to Atlanta and became her sister's caretaker. Tyler remained in Atlanta until her sister's death and then buried the sister in New Orleans.    
 
Before the storm, Tyler had started working on her house. Walker, a skilled carpenter, had been working with her. During the hurricane, a tree fell on the house, destroying it.
 
"She was so dumbfounded, she didn't know what to do," Berry said. "Joshua said, 'Pack your bags. You're going to my house. We've got an extra room , you're staying with me.' That's how she came into my life. So here, every day Shirley is there with me. She's cooking dinner because she loves to cook - do you know how much weight I've gained?" said the quite slender and petite Berry. "She (Tyler) knows everything about New Orleans. We've got the personification of New Orleans living with us."
 
As they prepared for the mastectomy, Berry had asked about reconstructive surgery. Modern techniques involve taking fat form another part of the body for the reconstruction but even now, she still does not have enough fat in her stomach for reconstructive surgery.
 
"Everything is gone," she said softly, but quickly added, "I have the greatest mate. Can you imagine a husband that celebrates me having a damn bag? This is before. This guy makes me feel like... I have the best husband, my mate that I sleep next to , that caresses me, makes me feel so wonderful. So appreciated. When he talks about the mastectomy, he talks about we. 'We can't give up to this, bey.'"
 
At her first doctor visit following the mastectomy, Berry was told they'd found cancer in the lymph node they had also removed. "But they don't know where it is in the body. Radiation for a year.  Chemotherapy don't know how long. I have books. I'm now reading. I've become very informed."
 
Part of the information suggests that Berry will mostly likely lose her hair and may have to cope with vomiting and depression. "These are the things some women go through," she said. The hair loss, at least, will not be a new experience for Berry who suffered a cranial aneurysm some years ago. Such aneurysms are usually fatal, but Berry survived and she believes it is because God has things for her to do.

The first tears
 
"I had to cry this morning. That's the first time I really cried. I hadn't felt that. Felt it today. I am on a journey. It is so important. This is what has been destined for me. And Joshua is there with me. He rolls right on with me. He's the third of September and I'm the 4th. We were both born on Labor Day, so we both know we have to labor.
 
"I know this is a journey and I am enjoying it," Berry said. "I think when we die, we know, subconsciously. He (the Lord) sends those messages. I haven't gotten that message. I've gotten the message to get ready. I've been riding the train a lot and that train, that Amtrak is giving me the opportunity to ride through our country and see how Harriett Tubman took hundreds of people through those woods. I hope I am Harriett Tubman in regards to people understanding that yes, there are a lot of woods and valleys one must travel - all for the freedom.

Not alone on her journey
 
One important aspect of her journey is her husband, whom Berry praises. It is praise and support that goes both ways. The two have known each other since high school and traveled different paths until life brought them to where they needed to be - with each other. He said he always knew he would be with me."
 
"Her strength comes from me and vice versa," Walker said. "She's been strong for me many times. I've gone through crises and things I thought could have gone in a different direction and with her being there that gave me that added support to know that everything will be okay. This is why I am here for her: To let her know everything is going to be okay. I feel very strongly about the fact that the Lord has really given her a mission, a message for people from her personal experience."
 
"Like I tell my wife," Walker said, "one day at a time. We live till the next day. That's the way we have been able to sustain ourselves. We let each day take care of itself. We don't try to carry over stuff that happened before and drag things out from time to time.
 
Like Berry, Walker said, "We knew that it was something that was going on but we didn't know exactly what it was. Then when we found out, my thing was just support, support, support and that is my main focus. Just make sure she has whatever she needs to make it through this. I really felt like these things happen and we have to be able to understand and move on.
 
"'You don't have this problem exclusively to yourself,' he'd told her. 'We're in this thing together.' Wherever she goes, I'm going. Whatever situation she in, I'm going to be in that same situation. That's why I am so happy for the fact that God has put me in a situation where I control what I do as far as my job and things like that for our stability." In addition to his carpentry skills, Walker's resonating baritone has been heard in the New Orleans Opera for about 25 years. He is also a member of the gospel group, Shades of Praise. "So I am able to spend this time with her, plus be able to do things that we need to do in order to survive," he said. "I thank the Lord for that blessing to be able to spend this time and be able to go to the places with her that she needs to go, do the different tests and be there when she gets different information and be able to share these things with her rather than her having to do these things by herself.
 
"It comes with time," he continued. "It's not an overnight situation where all of a sudden now you feel the pain and feel the sympathy.  You grow with this person. You feel what they feel. We are at this point now where we could finish each other's sentences. It's weird. You feel it. Before I can say it, she's said it. Before I can do it, she's done it. Stuff like that really trips you out."
 
Walker said he is not worried but he is concerned sometimes about what might happen and what might be. "....but not worried because we feel very blessed for what we've gotten so far. My wife has crossed a lot of bridges in her life where she didn't have to be here right now and the idea that she is here; she's crossed a lot of bridges; she's a true survivor because of the things she has gone through in her life. The average person would not be able to take the kind of things that she has done. We understand that she has a greater purpose."
 
Berry added, "I've had people say don't go around talking about it. I guess because it is a private thing.  Maybe having one breast is throwing people off. It's important to me because I believe that's why God brought it to me. I am a messenger. I have to let other people know - not just women but men - that having these mammograms is important. When I go out the door, everywhere I go, I'm asking, 'Give me prayer. Don't give me oh, poor you. Give me prayer. Give me a laugh, a glass of wine, let's hang, let's talk about good things.'"
 
It is this purpose that moves the couple onward on their journey and surrounds them with the innumerable people and things along that path to help Berry fulfill her destiny. She concluded, "I just want to make sure that my living is not in vain. So if I'm here, I just feel so blessed because today, I've used it wisely."