Guts and glory
Nothing can stop Devon Berry
from being a competitive athlete
Devon Berry encountered his first obstacle in life before he was even born.
His mother, Tanja Grier Amis, was three months pregnant with twins when a test of her amniotic fluid indicated something might be wrong with one of her babies. Doctors couldn’t pinpoint the exact problem, but one recommendation was for Amis to abort.
That wasn’t an option for Amis and then-husband John Berry, who already had one child, John Jr.
Then a car wreck sent Amis into premature labor. She was put on bed rest in a Henry County hospital and managed to give her babies 33 more days to gestate. On Dec. 17, 1996, two months shy of full term, Devon was born first. It was a problematic delivery. Destinee was delivered via C-section. Both weighed just 2 pounds.
After weeks on ventilators, Destinee grew stronger, but her brother struggled to thrive. Doctors determined he’d suffered a stroke. As he grew older, he had trouble chewing food and couldn’t stand. Before he was 2, he was hospitalized three times for pneumonia. Meanwhile, Amis gave birth to her fourth child, daughter Jayanna.
Devon gets a hug and a kiss from his mother Tonja Amis with his father John Berry looking on.
“I kept telling my pediatrician, ‘You have to tell me what’s wrong,’” Amis recalled.
Eventually Amis was sent to a specialist who diagnosed Devon, then 3, with cerebral palsy, a neurological, non-progressive brain injury or malformation that affects body movement and muscle coordination.
Amis worried about how she would take care of Devon and whether he could ever live a normal life.
She couldn’t have imagined he would become a star athlete.
Photo: Devon Berry, a Hampton High School football player with cerebral palsy, makes his way on his knees to the next set of drills during practice.
2
9 surgeries, 9 years
As a toddler, Devon couldn’t do the things his twin sister could do. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pull himself to a standing position. His legs were too weak to hold himself up. He was slow to begin speaking. He didn’t reach growth milestones like his siblings did.
When Devon was 4, he began a series of painful orthopedic surgeries to straighten and strengthen his legs. Shortly before he turned 9, he underwent the ninth surgery on his legs. It was this final surgery that Devon, now 19, recalls most clearly.
“I can remember praying with my mom before the surgery,” Devon said. “She was crying and I told her God was coming in the operating room with me and out with me.”
The pain was overwhelming, and it lasted for two weeks while he recovered in the hospital. Once he got home, his legs itched inside his casts and he couldn’t control the urge to scratch. When his mother wasn’t looking, he would use a metal coat hanger pushed under the plaster for relief.
The metal cut his skin, which was rubbed raw. When Amis detected a pungent odor coming from Devon’s legs, she knew something was wrong so she took him to the hospital. When the casts were removed, Amis was shocked at the sight of her son’s legs. The skin was raw, pink and infected. A doctor mentioned the possibility of amputation.
“It was one of the most traumatic moments in my life,” Amis said.
He would miss 10 weeks of school, but Devon’s wounds finally healed.
A year later, he told his mother he was ready to play football.
Devon loses a wrestling match with his sisters Jayanna (left) and Destinee, who team up to tickle him on the floor of the family home in Locust Grove.
Photo: Devon works on a lesson in his economics class last October. At the time, he had a 3.7 grade point average.
3
Play ball
Playing sports was nothing new to Devon. When he was 5, Amis signed him up to play Sunshine League baseball, a league for children with disabilities. When it was his turn at bat, he would approach the batter’s box on his walker and hit the ball from a tee. Sometimes his brother would run the bases for him. Other times, Devon would use his walker and circle the bases at his own speed.
“I can remember hitting a home run with one arm,” Devon said.
The rules were different, but the game was the same. Devon loved it, and he played in the league for five seasons before lobbying his mom to sign him up for football.
“Everybody thought I was crazy,” Devon said.
Amis was vehemently opposed.
You’re gonna have to stop treating me like I’m crippled, Devon told her.
Once Devon’s doctor and the coaches with the Jackson County recreation department gave their approval, she couldn’t refuse. Now in the sixth grade, he mostly watched from the sidelines until late in the games when he was given the go-ahead to play. Leaving his walker behind, he would crawl onto the field and take his position. He made a tackle at the goal line in his first game; being lower to the ground than his teammates gave him an advantage as a defensive player.
He went on to join the football team at Henderson Middle School in Jackson and later the varsity and junior varsity teams at Jackson County High School, where he started to get more time on the field. When his freshman season ended, Devon decided to give another sport a try: wrestling.
What he lacked in leg strength, Devon made up with his upper body strength. He didn’t have to run or even walk far to wrestle, and as long as he could wear plastic braces on his legs, he was comfortable on the wrestling mat. He qualified for the state wrestling tournament his freshman year.
Devon wasn’t just an outstanding athlete. He excelled in the classroom, too. Both he and Destinee repeated kindergarten because teachers didn’t think they were ready for first grade. But by third grade, Devon was in gifted classes.
Devon and his sisters graduated together.
Devon competes in many sports, including the 800 meter wheelchair race during the county track meet in Tiger Stadium at Stockbridge High School in March.
ABOUT THE STORY
As a long-time high school football fan, I first learned about Devon Berry from a Facebook post featuring a photo of him in his uniform leaning against his walker next to a player from the opposing team. I couldn’t imagine how a young man with cerebral palsy could possibly survive in the rough game of football. When I met Devon, I realized he was tough enough for anything. I followed Devon for a year, writing occasional stories on his accomplishments. But I knew there was a bigger story to tell. I recently talked to Devon after his first day of classes at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, and I could hear in his voice how genuinely excited he is. Devon is a true inspiration and living proof that through hard work, anything is possible.
Alexis Stevens
personaljourneys@ajc.com
ABOUT THE REPORTER
Alexis Stevens joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in December 2000 as a sports page designer. She has been covering breaking news since 2009. Alexis graduated from Berry College in 1997 with degrees in communications and Spanish.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Curtis Compton joined the AJC as a photo editor in 1993 before returning to the field as a staff photographer. Previously he worked for the Gwinnett Daily News, United Press International and the Marietta Daily Journal. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and won a World Hunger Award for his coverage of the famine in Sudan.
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