Scott Maxwell: New Volusia sheriff is shaking up things.
Beloved Vanravenswaay said he loved job despite risks
Orange County Firefighter Stephen “Shakey” Vanravenswaay wanted to have a small farm when he retired, somewhere with a few animals where he could sit on the front porch.
Retirement came earlier than he hoped. At the age of 42, after 19 years as a firefighter, he was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2015. He retired a year later and, six months ago, he and his wife moved back to his native Michigan and got a farm with a horse, a miniature horse, a donkey and a Brahma bull.
“We fulfilled his dream,” said his wife of 21 years, Lisa Vanravenswaay.
Vanravenswaay died Friday. He was 44.
Vanravenswaay, a father of two daughters, had a bawdy sense of humor and loved helping people, whether it was on the job or as a Little League coach, his wife said.
He joined Volusia County Fire Rescue in his early 20s after a stint with the Air Force in California. Two years later, he wanted to move to a bigger department and applied in Orange County. They hired him.
He got the nickname “Shakey” early in his career, when his knee started to wobble as he propped up a restaurant cook who accidentally cut herself on the job and fainted. The name stuck, and few in the fire department called him anything else.
He spent 17 healthy years with the department. But during those years, researchers found a link between firefighters and an increased risk of cancer: A large-scale Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found firefighters were 9 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and 14 percent more likely to die from the disease.
Vanravenswaay had no family history of cancer, but he spent almost two decades going in and out of smoke-filled buildings. In recent years, firefighters
have been decontaminating their gear and keeping a distance from anything that has been in contact with heavy smoke. That was not the case when Vanravenswaay joined the department.
“If somebody asked me, would you [with] what I know now, would I join the Fire Department again?” Vanravenswaay said in 2015, three months after his diagnosis. “Absolutely.”
The diagnosis came on Feb. 25, 2015 — his wife’s birthday. He had some stomach pains, but didn’t think they were anything to worry about until he heard the news: Pancreatic cancer that spread to his liver.
He had to stop working and begin treatment. Fellow firefighters offered help, covering Vanravenswaay’s shifts with no expectation of being repaid, so that he would still get his regular salary. They held fundraisers, sent food and helped with household tasks.
Just last month, a group of Orange County firefighters made the trip to Michigan to see him one more time and finish installing a fence around the farm, Lisa Vanravenswaay said.
Vanravenswaay survived for nearly two years. He got to see his older daughter, Brittney, graduate high school and start college, and his younger daughter Stephanie’s sweet 16.
In December, he told people that this would be his last Christmas, his wife said. He wanted to make sure it was a special one.
Brittney, 19, got art supplies and canvases. Stephanie, 16, got softball equipment and new clothes. And Lisa got a chicken coop, so she could start raising the birds on what they called Shakey’s Mini-Farm.
“And he went over and above on Christmas for the kids,” she said. “We had the most amazing Christmas, even though he was asleep for most of it because he was sick.”
Along with his wife and daughters, Vanravenswaay also leaves behind his parents, David and Sharon Vanravenswaay; and a brother, Bryan Vanravenswaay.
The Orange County Professional Fire Fighters union is planning a local memorial service on Feb. 18. The time and location have not yet been determined.