Donna Perry and Chuck Fisher had been together for 16 years. He helped her through a battle with cancer. Then she helped him through his own battle with cancer.

The difference, unfortunately, was that Fisher didn’t survive his cancer. He died last month at the age of 61.

Today, plates of fried chicken, barbecue and side dishes will be sold to help Perry pay for his final expenses.

The mysterious illness started about three months before his death. He was admitted to four different hospitals seven different times. From the symptoms, doctors said, it was pancreatic cancer, but biopsies came back negative. He was too sick for further tests.

“They said, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’” Perry said. “He can’t go through surgery, and he can’t even go through chemo. It’s bad to think you could actually be so sick that you can’t be treated.”

Fisher was a U.S. Navy veteran and had served in Vietnam. He had been the Protestant lay leader on the USS Puget Sound and was an ordained minister of the Assembly of God until 1992. He also was chaplain of the local American Legion chapter.

Perry remembers him for his infectious laugh, tireless work on behalf of causes they both supported and sitting by the picture window to keep a watch on the neighborhood.

“He’d tell a joke, and it was funnier watching him laugh at himself,” Perry said. “He never met a person he didn’t like. He didn’t care what color you were, what religion you were, what size you were — he didn’t care.”

Perry said her husband was always trying to “sell” her. If they were standing in line at the grocery store, he’d turn to the stranger behind them and say, “You want to buy her? Because I’m about tired of her.”

Fisher helped start the Neighborhood Watch in their Kingsboro neighborhood, and often would sit and watch the goings-on until 2 or 3 a.m.

Perry needs some help paying for his final expenses, so she’s hoping for the support of the community at today’s fundraiser.

Plates of fried chicken, pit-cooked barbecue, baked beans, cole slaw and tea will be sold at Madigan’s restaurant, 425 E. Pinner St., from 1 to 7 p.m. for $10 a plate. Desserts will be available for $1 each, and meals can be eat-in, take-out or drive-through.

For those who choose to eat in, there will be entertainment. Ernie Hefferon will play Elvis, and some others will sing and do comedy. There also will be some raffle items.

For more information, call Perry at 679-3993. Donations also can be sent to 402 Highland Ave.