Margus Hopp

May 24, 2023
5 Min read
Recovery Stories

Margus Hopp had two great passions in life, the first being his career in the Estonian Armed Forces and the second is Estonian pop-folk dancing.

Margus had been deployed twice to Afghanistan but it was his deployment to the Central African Republic where he picked up a bacterial infection that shut down his nervous system.

He could barely lift a spoon to his eat breakfast and sadly he was unable to keep dancing and continue on with his career in the Army.

Slowly over four years, Margus has regained mobility but he is not back to his previous level of activity yet.

"I have two choices: one choice is to get well and the other one is to get well’. For me, there were no other options," Margus' mentality carried him through his rehabilitation process and to three consecutive Invictus Games'.

He's back dancing as well and has made some great friends within the Estonian Invictus team and has found a new passion in Sitting Volleyball.

"It’s become a great thing for us because we’re competing now in tournaments and we’ve come to know each other so well now. The Estonian army is very small and everyone knows everyone. But now we know each other’s backgrounds, our lives, our jokes and so on. And it’s been amazing for us to be here.

Margus Hoop

Invictus Games Orlando 2016, Toronto 2017, and Sydney 2018 - Competitor and Team Captain of Team Estonia

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