Wal-Mart win takes one problem 'off the list,' Shank says

After a day of triumph, reality set in for Jim Shank.

The decision by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to forgo collecting on a judgment against his severely injured former wife's trust fund was a bright spot in what has been a sorrowful period. Debbie Shank won't recover from the injuries sustained in the 2000 accident that left her confined to a nursing home, nothing will bring back the son he lost in the Iraq war and the trust fund likely won't be enough to ensure Debbie Shank's comfort for the rest of her life.

"I should be euphoric over this victory," Shank said Wednesday. "But I came home to eat some lunch, I laid down and covered up with no urgency to get back up. I have got a victory for Debbie, but I still have a lot of problems in my life. She is still in a nursing home. My son is still in the grave. I have a specter of cancer, and my manhood has been taken away."

Jim and Debbie Shank met in Belleville, Ill., and married in 1975. He bounced from job to job, then applied for and received a job at Southeast Missouri State University in 1985. When she was injured in 2000 in a collision with a tractor-trailer as she was attempting a U-turn on Highway 177, she had been working nights at Wal-Mart in Cape Girardeau to make sure she was available during the day to care for her three boys.

"Being a mom was what she was about," Jim Shank said. "She just put her life into them. It was just a great opportunity for her to be available if she needed them."

The $1 million settlement with the trucking company, reduced by attorney's fees and a share for Jim Shank to care for his sons, became a $417,000 trust fund for Debbie Shank's care. The protracted legal battle with Wal-Mart began in 2005 when the retail giant sued to recover the $469,000 its health plan had spent for Debbie Shank's medical costs.

On Tuesday, a little more than a week after winning the final round when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Jim Shank's last appeal on behalf of his wife, Wal-Mart announced it didn't want the money. The company indicated that public opinion, marshaled on Debbie Shank's behalf by spontaneous response to news stories about the case and by Wal-Mart Watch, a union-funded group critical of the company, was partially responsible for its decision.

Debbie Shank was told of the victory, but whether she will remember it tomorrow is questionable, Jim Shank said. Her life should improve somewhat as soon as Wal-Mart releases its hold on the trust fund, which held about $217,000 when the Shanks last were able to view balance sheets.

Chris Shank, Debbie and Jim Shank's oldest son, is the trustee for the account.

Quoting Lincoln

The final chapters in the publicity battle began in November, when the Shank case was featured in a Wall Street Journal article written by health reporter Vanessa Fuhrmans. Shank credits Fuhrmans with sparking the wave of news stories that included reports on NBC, CNN, Fox News and other media outlets.

"I called the lady from the Wall Street Journal and kiddingly told her, like Lincoln said to Harriet Beecher Stowe, you are the little lady that started this great big war," Shank said. "It had gotten local attention but nothing nationally. It has really taken off."

On Tuesday evening, Shank made an appearance on CNN. He is scheduled to be on MSNBC tonight. And he's received calls from the Kansas City Star, nationally syndicated radio shows and others. "I had a couple of gentlemen call about making the story into a book or movie," he said.

But the calls from people who had heard the story made more of an impression and have helped buoy his spirits, Shank said. One man with a wife dependent on an oxygen tank called offering to make a donation on Debbie Shank's behalf; the man asked if Jim Shank needed a car.

Another caller set up hope4shank.com, a Web site that promises to donate two-thirds from the sales of products on an affiliated site to the Shanks' fund. That caller, he said, understands that $200,000 won't be enough for Debbie Shank's care for a lifetime. Debbie Shank is 52.

Debbie Shank should be able to move back into a private home at Monticello House, the nursing home where she has been cared for during recent years, Jim Shank said. The trust fund, when available, should also settle some lingering medical debts that include money being sought by Southeast Missouri Hospital in a lawsuit set to go to trial in June.

The let-down after the Wal-Mart battle came because it wasn't an end, just another chapter, Jim Shank said. "I had things piling up and piling up. The suit is behind us, the money's back, and we can finally take something off the list." While he has worked for Southeast's Facilities Management Department, Jim Shank has also sought to supplement his income as a real estate agent and by taking landscaping jobs. The extra work wasn't just for money but also to keep him busy, he said.

"The more I sat around and thought about things, the worse it got," he said. "I am on medication for depression, which helps keep the edge off, but it gets to where I don't want to get out of bed."

He said he has even discussed suicide with his youngest son, Nathan. "He is afraid I will get depressed and do it," he said. "He would see me down and know something is wrong. It just gets to the point where you break and you have to discuss it."

'That was my place'

Jim Shank said he won't bash Wal-Mart now that the fight is over, but he questions whether the court contest would have ever taken place if founder Sam Walton was still alive.

Shank is now hoping Wal-Mart's decision will aid others who work for the retailer and workers facing similar cases at other companies. That is only outcome that will bring meaning to the struggles against a fate that has cost him the companionship of his wife, son Jeremy, killed in Iraq in September 2006 and a battle with cancer.

"I have always wondered, as I kept having tragedy after tragedy and wondered what was my purpose here on Earth, that maybe this is what the means to the end were," he said. "Not just helping Debbie, but making a difference for the employees at Wal-Mart. I feel that was my place."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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