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Health See other Health Articles Title: Matthew was a Marine Matthew was a Marine 8/14/98 Matthew was a Marine. Danang 1964 with Marine Medium Helicopters. Did door gunner duty and worked on those Sikorskis. In 1982 the agent orange cancer came after Matthew. He was a fighter. He fought the cancer and beat it. In 1989 the cancer came after him again. I met him just after he’d won another bout. Although he won, the chemotherapy and radiation had ruined his eyesight. He wore thick glasses, and his back hurt him constantly. We became friends. We talked and drank beer. We talked about Vietnam and life, ex-wives and guitars. We sat and watched the birds and deer out of his back window. When he and Jim and Mark and I got together we would tie a great one on. Drive over to Quigs and eat Bar-B-Q and howl at the moon. Sometimes Matthew would have a few beers, some times not as the beer would bother him. We got Matthew a computer and he started to use it for bulletin boards. His passion was graphics. He was always making greeting cards, Christmas cards, birthday cards with graphics on them. Matthew would call when he couldn’t figure something out with the computer, and we’d hack about until we got it going. In 1996 they removed his esophagus and one third of his stomach. The cancer was back. The doctors told him they’d gotten it all, but every two months Matthew had to go back so they could expand his remaining esophagus so he could eat. He lost weight and got down to his fighting weight. Five months ago Matthew called me and said they had diagnosed him with cancer again. This time it was in his stomach, his spine, both of his hips, and his right femur. The doctors said this would be his last fight. I went to see Matthew and we talked. We stood by a pond behind his house and I told him that I had come to see him now, and that I would not return after. He said he was glad I’d come. We talked long. Matthew said he was tired. Tired of fighting. Matthew fought it again though. He took the chemotherapy and radiation. He said if they couldn’t beat it, to keep the pain down and let him go. Monday I had a message on my recorder from his daughter. Matthew was in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs. His wife said when she called him he couldn’t breathe so she hung up. Wednesday Mark called and said Matthew’s wife had called him and told him that Matthew wasn’t expected to make it through the night. When I called his wife Thursday morning she said Matthew had just stopped breathing about eleven Wednesday night. Matthew was a Marine, and he was my friend. Matthew died Wednesday, August 12, 1998 from Agent Orange Cancer. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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