From cholera in Haiti to tragedy at home

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

When John Shattuck left cholera-ravaged Haiti last weekend, he thought he was leaving tragedy behind.

Having attended five funerals, including that of a 5-year-old girl, just before boarding his flight back to Chicago, Shattuck was more than ready for some holidaying.

“I thought, ‘My son’s coming home from New York and we’re all gonna be together,’” said the Frankfort businessman and father of two.

But he wasn’t home 24 hours when the calls started coming.

First, he learned a family friend had died of cancer.

Then, in a gut-wrenching blow, he was told one of the guys who worked for him had been killed.

Like a lot of Chicago firefighters, Ed Stringer had a part-time job. He worked as a building appraiser, documenting property in both Wilmington, where he loved to spend his free time, and Chicago, where he worked out of the firehouse at 63rd and Dorchester.

Shattuck, who owns Advanced Appraisal, hired Stringer a year ago.

Now Shattuck is preparing to attend Stringer’s funeral.

Stringer was killed Wednesday when the roof of a burning building collapsed on top of him. Corey Ankum also was killed in what Chicago officials are calling the worst firefighter tragedy in more than a decade.

“I’m just at a loss,” Shattuck said. “I just can’t believe it.”

Home used to be a safe zone for the man who has organized some $12 million in aid to Haiti.

Shattuck has made eight trips to the Third World country since it was brought to its knees by a crippling earthquake last January. Each time, he brought needed supplies, including clothing, burial garments and bottled water. Lately, he’s been packing pharmaceuticals to help with the cholera epidemic.

That 5-year-old girl he helped bury last week was dead within two hours of being diagnosed.

“When you have underlying conditions, you succumb quickly,” he said.

The irony, he added, is that for about $20, a patient can be cured of cholera, providing he is not already malnourished and dehydrated.

Shattuck is grateful for the many Southlanders who have helped him in his mission. Orland Park school children have sent Christmas cards. Volunteers at churches in Tinley Park and Park Forest have sent burial garments and dresses. And local businesses have donated water, food and building materials.

So far, Shattuck has organized the shipment of 15 containers to Haiti.

The hospital where Shattuck works is now a cholera camp.

But the news is not all dismal.

“We’ve treated more than 1,000 people successfully,” he said. “With enough supplies, we can treat and save these people.”

Though he derives a sense of purpose from his work in Haiti, Shattuck said the trips can be draining. He always headed home to his wife and two sons, eager for respite and a bit of normalcy.

But that would elude him this time.

On Wednesday morning, a firefighter called.

“Ed’s gone,” the man said.

“I said, ‘What? What are you talking about? Did he quit?’”

Shattuck remembers Stringer as a good guy, a jokester, a character.

“Most of the other appraisers just sent along their work in pdf form. Ed always attached some kind of commentary,” he said.

“He’d write, ‘Here you go, Sunshine.’”

Until he got to know Stringer, Shattuck wasn’t always sure how to take the comments.

“Now, I wish I knew him better,” Shattuck said. “I imagine he had such a good sense of humor because it was a coping mechanism in such a serious line of work.”

He said Stringer was quick to share information about his part-time gig with others in the firehouse who wanted to pick up extra work.

In addition to filling out forms, appraisers must send along three photos of the property they’re sizing up. One time, Stringer sent a photo that showed a motorcycle in front of the property.

Shattuck knew Stringer had a bike.

“I asked him, ‘Ed, is that your motorcycle in the photo?’”

When Stringer said yes, Shattuck reminded the firefighter that when he went on calls, he was representing the bank.

“I said, ‘What kind of bank official gets off a motorcycle?’”

But Stringer stood his ground and eventually, Shattuck relented. “Ed was the only one who could get away with that,” he said, chuckling.

“Now, I’m just trying to make sense of it all,” Shattuck said.

He finds himself asking an all-too-familiar question, one that he’s asked a million times while tending to a sick Haitian child or attending yet another senseless funeral.

“Why?”