In Memory of Bruce LeRoy Berry

This story is based on the life of Ms. Berry and her father Bruce LeRoy Berry. Names and some details have been changed but the story is still very real. Bruce was diagnosed with cancer in December 2007 and passed away only five months later in April 2008.

Those who new Bruce will always remember him for his love of fishing, being outside and dedication to his job as a state patrol. Bruce was only 64 years old when he passed away. He stayed strong through out everything and he will always be their to motivate others to do the same. His family, friends and community miss him greatly.

The story was inspired by an interview with teacher Ms. Jeniffer Berry. Ms. Berry's decication to education has motivated her to share her very personal life with others. She would like students to learn about cancer but be aware of the emotional and very real feelings that it has brought to plenty of lives too. There is more to cancer than what a text book can ever teach us. Ms. Berry's life has changed becasuse of cancer and she would like others to learn from it too. She is now more conscience about her health and well being. During her interview, Ms. Berry said that she has greatly appreciated all the help she recieved and is still recieving from Hospice.

From the students at RFHS and Adrianna and Alli, we would all like to thank Ms. Berry and her family for sharing all of this with us. Bruce LeRoy was well known in the commminty and he will never be forgoten and students will be more sensitive to cancer becuase of Ms. Berry's story. We will never understnad what Ms. Berry went though, but this has put it all in prespective for us.


THANK YOU MS. BERRY AND THANK YOU BRUCE FOR CONTUNUING TO BE AN INSPERATION TO US ALL.

Below are pictures of Bruce Leroy Berry.

This is a picture of Mr. Berry on the last Valentines day he spent with his wife. 2008

This is a picture of daughter Junnifer Berry and her father Bruce. They are on and outdoor outing a month before he passed away. He is feeding the ducks and enjoying the outdoor air.

January 2, 2009

The holidays were a huge struggle! We were all over whelmed with emotion all the time. Just yesterday, as we were sitting in the living room, celebrating the new year, my father began to speak of his funeral. He told us what he wanted done and who had to do it. Doing this brought out all different emotions I didn't even know I could feel at the same time. Part of me did not want to talk about it. The other part of me was happy that we had the chance to make things just the way he wanted them. It is extremely hard.

In a few days, some of my dad's friends are going to his house to build him a ramp for his wheel chair. My dad has always had a lot of friends. I'm sure this means the world to him. I just can not even begin to think what my life will be without him.This month has gone by too slow and too fast as well. I hate watching him go through the medication but at least he is a home. My niece, an RN, has decided to take time off of work to make sure the hospital would let him come home. this really helps my mom.

When I am with my father he says everything that he thinks I will ever need to know. He does not want to anything to be left unsaid. He kisses me, hugs me, and reminds me how special I am to him. Ugh... My thoughts are just so scrambled. I do not know what to think or even write. There is so little time. How will I ever record everything?

December 17th, 2008

My mother is not doing very well. We called Hospice and they have been very helpful. These people really care about us. They do not dance around the issue like the doctors we are used to.

Hospice is an organization that cares for dying patients. The goal of hospice is to allow patients to continue with an alert, pain-free life and to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. Death is considered the last stage of life to Hospice. Care can be and is given twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week and is can be done in a patient's home, a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Hospice comes in to relieve the symptoms of cancer, not to cure it, this is called palliative care. They usually come in when the patient has six months left of their life.

I can not tell you how helpful this was to my mother. She was not able to care for my dad all the time and she wasn't a doctor, she had no idea what to do. When hospice came in, it relieved her. They were so friendly and make the last few months smoother and easier on us all. My mom told me that she was a little bit hesitant to get into the program because she felt like it would be like letting go of hope. After she decided however, I think that she knows it was the right decision.

December 6th, 2008

After the surgery had been completed, the doctors told us that he still needed to have more therapy done. My father would have to go through both chemotherapy and radiation. This would help give my father a little more time and relieve him of his pain. I knew that I had to research other treatments so that I knew exactly what he was going through.

I started with Radiation Therapy. There are two different forms of Radiation, Internal and External. Both methods use high energy doses of x-ray to break up and kill the cancer cells. External however, is done from outside your body and destroys the cancerous cells, but also may kill some of the good ones too. Internal treatment is done inside your body and is much more accurate killing only the cancerous cells. I also wanted to know the side effects and this is where I started to get even more nervous about these treatments. Radiation therapy to the brain has side effects such as memory loss, lower sexual desire, poor tolerance for cold weather, nausea, unsteadiness, and changes in vision.

I moved on to Chemotherapy next and found out there are three different ways to receive this treatment; pill, injection into a body cavity or administered through a vein. Chemotherapy kills all of the fast growing cancer cells, however it does not know the difference between fast-growing cancer cells and fast-growing good cells such as hair and nails. This therapy has side effects of; low white blood cell count, low red blood cell count, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, fatigue, and mood changes. None of these were sounding very pleasant to me.

The next one I learned about was Biological Response Modifiers, this is a therapy that boosts your immune system to help it fight cancer and other infections and it also can help the body heal after other cancer treatments. The most common side effect is flu- like symptoms, along with anemia, diarrhea and decreased white blood cell count.

The fourth treatment I researched for was Photodynamic Therapy.This is another treatment that uses a light to destroy the cells, the difference is that this is both an internal and external process. A drug is given to the patient through vein and then absorbed by all of the cells. However, cancer cells hold on to this drug longer than healthy cells. After a few days of the injection, the light is used on the area of the cancer. The light kills the cells that still have the drug in them, and those are the only cells that will really react to the light source. The problem with this is that the tumor has to be in a place that the light can reach, close to the skin. The side effects are skin and eye sensitivity to sun, burns, swelling, pain, and scarring, coughing, trouble swallowing, stomach pain, painful breathing, or shortness of breath. These symptoms are usually temporary however.

The final treatment for cancer is Gene Therapy, this is when scientists alter your genes. However, this is not FDA approved and may not work, you have to go into it as a clinical trial. The side effects from this are higher sensitivity to Radiation and Chemotherapy.

Shortly after reading all of this, I learned that my dad was having both radiation and Chemo. He would have radiation done about once a week. After this, he did have troubles with his vision just like the book said he would. He also took a pill once a day for Chemotherapy. This did not seem to be as harsh on his body like it can be for others. My father does not vomit often but he has had a loss of appetite. Mobility is also a problem now. He is always tired but remains strong.

December 4th, 2008

Today is my dad's surgery. They just wheeled him into the surgery room and all we are left to do is wait. As I sit here in the hard, itchy chair, I want to wake up. I want to roll over in bed an know that this is only a dream. I mean, how else could it have gone so fast? It was only a few days ago that my dad was helping serve Thanksgiving dinner... I guess life is just funny like that. It just seems fake. It won't sink in. I do not want to accept it.


Later on...
My dad is out now. It took a few hours, but we are finally sitting in the recovery room with him. I look at my father while he sleeps and I still admire his strength. His face looks tired and worn, the wrinkles around his eyes are deeper than ever and yet, he is my super hero. Doctors say that they tried to get as much of the tumor as possible. The pressure caused by the tumor was causing him pain and they wanted to relieve him of it. This is not a cancer that will go away though. It is terminal and will always come back. They still do not give us hope though. They are all sure that my dad's life will end shortly. I suppose that they will begin to try radiation after this. I just hope that he does not show all those nasty symptoms of radiation. I do not want to see my dad like that...

December 2nd, 2008

I told my students today. I had to explain the random outburst of tears. I had to give them some reason for my moods. For being middle school children, they were very understanding and patient with me. The staff has also been extremely patient with me. I am very thankful for all of this.

The hard part is telling other people. I was pumping gas on my way to work today when a man walked up to me. He said he recognized me and wanted me to say hi to my father for him. He explained that they had known each other for quite a long time. He asked me how my dad was doing. This was just another set off. I began to cry and the poor man wondered what he had done wrong. I had to explain to him all over again that my dad was about to get surgery for a brain tumor. Like everybody else, this surprised him. Every time somebody comes to me and asks about him I do not know what to say. How do I deal with this?

December 1st, 2008

While we are waiting for the day of my dad's surgery, I have decided to research what cancer is and what it does to the body. I want to know everything about it so that I may help my father and family in anyway possible. I started with the basics, what is cancer? I learned that it is when the cells go completely out of control, they reproduce at an uncontrollable rate and take over the body and it's energy.

Next, I wanted to take a closer look. What is it that makes these cells behave this way? Why do they all of a sudden begin to reproduce in such a fast manner? I found out that the errors occur in the Cell Cycle. this is a process that all cells go through in oder to reproduce. There are four steps in this process, M-stage, G1, S-Stage and G2. M-stage is where mitosis occurs, which is when the cell is dividing into two "Daughter Cells".

Mitosis begins with the DNA duplicating and tightening into more compact shapes called chromosomes. This stage is also known as prophase. The membrane of the nucleus falls apart so that the chromosomes can move to the center of the cell during metaphase. Then, during anaphase, spindle fibers from the centrioles pull the chromosomes apart and into opposite poles of the cell. As a new nuclear membrane forms around the two clusters of DNA in telophase, the cell membrane pinches off into the two Daughter cells. This stage is also known as cytokinesis.

G1 is where the cell grows, organelles grow in size to prepare for splitting. S-stage is the synthesis of DNA. This is when the DNA replicates and splits. The final step is G2, again, the cell grows and prepares for M-stage. However, cells are not able to pass through to each of these steps very easily. Between M-Stage and G1 there is a "Stop Sign" and another one between S-Stage and G2.

These stop signs are actually proteins called p53. P53 is a tumor suppressor gene. To pass the stop signs, two chemicals, kinase and cyclin have to attach to each other in order to keep moving through the cell cycle. The protein P53 attaches to cyclin so that it can not join with kinase until it is time to do so.

Cancer occurs when these proteins (P53) are not stopping any of the cells from reproducing. In other words, P53 in not attaching to cyclin for some reason. Cyclin is then free to attach to kinase at any rate and reproduce without stopping at the stop signs. It is important for all cells to stop for at least a moment because this is the time when cells make sure all the DNA replication and division has gone correctly. There is less of a chance for mistakes if there are stop signs.

I also found out that there are genes called oncogenes that help cancer worsen. Oncogenes were once protoncogenes. The cells went bad and then they serve as a gain of function for all of the cancerous cells. Oncogenes help with angionesis which helps cancer cells grow blood vessels so that they may receive all the nutrients they need to continue growing. They cause metasis too. This helps cancer sell travel through out the body. Everything an oncogene does somehow helps the cancer cells grown and worsen.

There are also Tumor Suppressor Genes that as a loss of function for cells . TSG's work to help moderate the reproduction of cells. They work to stop cell reproduction if there is anything wrong in the cell, such as DNA damage, or lack of growth. The loss of function of these genes is when problems really start to occur. If TSG do not function correctly and regulate cell reproduction, the cells might become mutated and cause cancer.

To say the least, I am very confused about it all, but I think I am starting to understand better that i did before. I am still not sure exactly what to be thinking right now, why him? What made his cells go bad in his brain? There are so many things that I wish I could know, but I am never going to get all of the answers.

November 30th, 2008 (later on)

The results from the tests are in... my worst fears have not been confirmed. My dad did not have a stroke in his young age. It is much worse than we thought... They have discovered a tumor in my dad's brain. "Glioblastoma. Level Four." This is how the doctors told us. Have they no emotional training what so ever? How can they just let me know that my dad is dying and they have no emotions at all? I understand that it is not their job to comfort us, their job is simply to tell us what is wrong and then try to make my father healthier. I still can not help feeling angry at the insensitive man that came to tell me that my father, MY DAD has terminal cancer!

What am I going to do! My dad was just fine before this. My aunt had died from cancer but they said it was not hereditary. Her cancer had been in her lungs and now my dad had it in his brain? What have I done Lord? Why my family. He had been healthy for the majority part of his life.

After hearing the news, all we could do was ask more questions. It was as if the more we asked and acted like the doctors were, the less real it would seem. It turns out that they do not give my father more than six months to live. The cancer will not spread but they do not give him much chance to live. Doctors do want to try surgery as soon as possible to see if they could maybe take all the cancer out. The surgery is scheduled for the fourth of December.

My Mom is a wreck, the man that she has spent most of her life with is dying right in front of her and there is nothing she can do about it. How can I be strong for her? How can I show her strength when I can't even muster up enough for myself? What am I going to do?! These doctors are not helping one bit either! Nobody will give a straight answer! Not a nurse or doctor! Why can't somebody just tell me what to do! I can not even begin to imagine how my father is dealing with this! My mom told me that the doctor told him while he was in the room alone. I did not know how he would respond to all of this information on his own. A nurse told my mother that my father listened to doctor carefully and quietly. After being told that he would most likely die, my dad only had one thing to say. "I'm going to fight it."

If my father can have this kind of strength, I should be able to do the same right?



This is what his CT scan looked like of my dads brain. The dark spot in the middle is the tumor that needs to be removed.

November 30th, 2008

After arriving at the hospital yesterday, my mom explained everything that had happened earlier that day. She told me that my dad was hanging the Christmas lights around the house like he did every year shortly after thanksgiving. Then, he became very confused. He was having troubles figuring out a simple task such as putting up some outdoor lights. The confusion turned into a large headache. My dad told my mom that he was not feeling well. My mom then told him to lie down, for once he did not argue with her, he went straight for the couch. This seemed weird to me because my father was not the type of man to take a break. He had always been a "macho man". Sick as he was, my father always made an effort to finish his job. Still, he agreed and slept for a full twenty-four hours. This worried me as well. My mother said she kept checking on him to see if he was still breathing. Her first thought was that he had a stroke and wanted to take him to St. Mary's Hospital immediately.


Today, my dad is having an emergency CT scan and MRI done. I am really scared for my dad. He is only is his early sixties. It is too early or him to be dealing with things such as strokes. I just hope that everything turns out okay...

November 29th, 2008

Today my Mom called me during my last hour class. I knew this had to be an emergency because she never calls me during school. Her tone of voice was different than usual, she sounded extremely worried. Once I answered the phone, my mom did not even take the time to say hi. She was crying and was absolutely hysterical. She told me my Dad wasn't doing very well, she thought he had a stroke and was taking him to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction. The conversation ended quickly as I prepared to leave the school and drive to Grand Junction. I had the office supply a last minuet substitute and I left the school. I really appreciated how the entire staff was very understanding. Being a teacher in this district, it is hard to finding a last minute replacement.

During the drive to St. Mary's I thought of the healthy man that my dad had always been. He had been a state trooper for twenty-nine years. He was also a respected man in the community. My dad enjoyed being outside and fishing during his free time. I remembered a specific outing during my childhood when my dad and I went fishing by ourselves. It was usually a family trip but this time was special. We had the chance to go by ourselves. I got lost thinking about my father and I and arrived in Grand Junction faster then I though I would. I got to the hospital scarred and worried for my dad.