Inspirational Stories

Three months into my husband’s yearlong deployment to South Korea, Captain Matthew Marggraf started noticing a painless lump forming on the side his neck. Thinking it was just his body adjusting to its new environment he thought nothing of it. When he visited home for two short weeks for our wedding and honeymoon in October we noticed the now golf ball sized lump. They urged him to get it checked out as Hodgkins lymphoma ran in his family.

Matthew returned to Korea vowing to investigate the lump. Two ultrasounds, two neck biopsies and a bone marrow biopsy later February, 2017 Matthew was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Two weeks later, he was reunited with his family to start treatment in his hometown of Dover.

During his treatments he NEVER complained and tried to remain positive and active. Some weeks he would run up to five miles and others he hiked the beautiful mountains of New England. Many deployed friends posted videos of them shaving their heads in honor of my husband. It helped him push through those final rounds of chemo.

As of August, 2017 Matthew is in remission! As we wait to hear back he spends most of his time recovering from the chemo side effects and volunteering at the local ROTC detachment at the University of New Hampshire, where he graduated from. Mathew's devotion to his country and to his family is inspirational.