"Excellent dad, the best. They don't come any better than him," says Kalina Shouse when asked about her husband Erik.
The couple have two beautiful, intelligent, active little girls but Kalina Shouse no longer has the man who helped make them; Erik Shouse died last year at just 40, suddenly and unexpectedly.
An autopsy revealed the otherwise healthy firefighter had heart disease.
The state of Washington recognizes a number of conditions -- cancers mostly -- as presumptive, meaning a direct result of firefighting. Heart attack is one of them, but only if it occurs within 24 hours of strenuous activity related to the job or within 72 hours of smoke exposure.
Neither applied to Erik Shouse but in a pivotal decision by Labor and Industries, his heart disease -- and consequently his death -- was ruled presumptive or, in other words, caused by his job.
And that designation entitles Kalina and her children to survivor's benefits.