Brave Like Gabe
Rare cancer advocate.
Relentless optimist.
Pro runner.
We are all STRONG. But we don’t realize how STRONG we really are,
until being STRONG is all we have left.
Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald (née Anderson) 6/25/1986 – 6/11/2019 was a professional American middle-distance runner and lifelong Minnesotan, born and raised in Perham, MN (population 2,985). Gabriele ran professionally for Brooks beginning in 2010 until
her passing in 2019.
She won a single track & field state title in the 800-meters competing for Perham High School. Gabriele walked-on to the University of Minnesota cross country and track &
field teams in 2004, where she was a part of several Big Ten Championship squads and eventually became an NCAA track & field All-American with a runner-up finish in the 1500-meters in 2010, her final collegiate race.
Her career highlights include a 4th-place finish in the 2012 USA Olympic Trials and a
USA Championship title in the indoor 3000-meters in 2014. Her personal best in the 1500-meters is 4:01.48, making her the 11th fastest performer in USA history. Gabriele survived multiple bouts with cancer—initially diagnosed with a rare salivary gland cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma, in 2009, and thyroid cancer in 2010. Throughout her cancer journey, Gabriele continued to compete and run professionally.
Gabriele aimed to return to elite competition in 2018 and continued training despite ongoing treatments and setbacks. She strongly believed in finding out what was possible despite her diagnosis and encouraged other cancer survivors to keep their minds open to the possibility of achieving their dreams and other goals by being brave in their own way. After living for 10 years with adenoid cystic carcinoma, Gabriele passed away on June 11, 2019, at her home in Minneapolis surrounded by family and friends.
Her story and legacy continue with the Brave Like Gabe Foundation that inspires others
to share their own struggles while also helping to find better, more effective treatments for rare cancers. Throughout each new diagnosis and treatment, I have made the choice to run and train when my body allows. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been the right decision for me. From the very first day I was told I had cancer in 2009,
I knew running would be a big part of my journey back to health.
It has truly been my refuge; when everything else seems to be going wrong and
the outcomes are far beyond my control, I can find perspective and hope on the run.
I believe that continuing to pursue my goals on the track has helped me to carry on with purpose in my life in the face of an uncertain future.
The mental boost I get from my daily run has become so important
to me and is something I wish I could share with every cancer survivor.
It has become more and more of a challenge over the past two years (since my recurrence) to maintain the consistency and intensity of training required to be one of the best runners in the world, but I’m not giving up on my dream of taking one more shot at the Olympics in 2020! Being brave, for me, means not giving up on the things that make me feel alive — Gabriele Grunewald.
“I’ve always loved running and I never want cancer to take that away from me,”
Grunewald tells PEOPLE, “Having the opportunity to be a professional runner was something that I never expected.”
Her battle began when she was first diagnosed in 2009 with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. Surgery to remove the tumor from her salivary gland was successful, but two years later the cancer reappeared in her thyroid, which was also removed.
For five years she was healthy, living her life, traveling and competing. She finished fourth in the 1500 at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trails and won the 2014 USA Indoor 3,000-meter title.
It was in August 2016, that she discovered her cancer came back for the third time—
but now in her liver. “That was a huge bummer, and it was tough,” says Grunewald, who married her college boyfriend in 2013. “I had a big surgery that removed half of my liver and the tumor.
I couldn’t run for like three or four months.”
But as soon as she could, she got back to training until her first scan in March showed that small tumors had returned. “I’m running, but not fast because I’m going through chemo,” she says, which she started on June 6. “The most important thing for me has just been trying to stay involved in the sport that I love even though it’s been hard to manage my health issues with running.”
She added: “It’s something that I felt like I really needed to do just to carry on and have something to look forward to.” When Gabe Grunewald crossed the finish line this past June in the US. Outdoor Championship. The 31-year-old middle distance runner was undergoing chemotherapy to treat adenoid cystic carcinoma. A rare cancer that had recurred for the fourth time. The National meet fell during an off week of treatment.
She and her fellow world-class runners walked single file, hair tied in ponytails, to the starting line of one of track’s premier events. The women were a lithe pack, and it was difficult to pick out Grunewald. Identified by the purple half-moon scar that stretches across her abdomen.
The runners toed the starting line, the crowd fell silent, a gun sounded, and they were off.
Grunewald is not the world’s fastest 1,500-meter runner, although she is competitive and fierce down the stretch. Her emotion was greeted down the front stretch by the running community with enormous cheer as the other runners circled around her with well wishes.
That was on June 22, and on July 12 Grunewald announced via Instagram that her body did not respond to chemotherapy. She explained her next step would be Immunotherapy and would be working with one of the best doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City. However, it wasn’t a devastating update being dealt a terrible hand once again.
She deals with her dilemma with optimism, unwavering strength and with an
uplifting spirit. She still runs regularly often after spending hours at the hospital for her transfusion. Gabe reveals I am in a tough situation — but I want my story to be as positive as it can be. I am not in control of my cancer, but I am in control of my attitude and how
I live my life.
That’s the message she wants to send — our circumstances don’t define us;
we can live our lives even in the face of a life-disrupting event like a cancer diagnosis. Across her abdomen, Grunewald bears a scar, the aftermath of surgery she had in August 2016 to remove a tumor from her liver. But this 13-inch strike across her middle is also a symbol of what she has been through and how she intends to keep living her life with her passion for running.
To receive a serious cancer diagnosis is to feel an overpowering desire to retreat within and to try to block out the chirpings of your mind. Grunewald made the decision to crawl out.She talks about her disease in the way of a stream tumbling down a mountain.
She has a website and a Twitter feed, and she encourages supporters to contribute to research on this cancer. “I’m a young adult with cancer,” Grunewald said. “I don’t always love talking about it. It’s not a made-for-TV movie. It’s real. It’s scary.” She gives and she receives, and that helps. “I love when people reach out to me, because it helps me get out the door.”
Grunewald grew up in tiny Perham in Otter Tail County, a three-hour drive northwest of Minneapolis. She rode the bench in basketball. Running, even as temperatures dropped to 10 below and ice formed on her lips, was her freedom.
“Small-town politics could make team sports a headache,” she said. “Running is all about you.”
“I hope people see that you can still make something beautiful and powerful out of a bad situation.”
— Gabriele Grunewald
Scholarly Resources.
“There is substantial evidence that higher levels of physical activity are linked to lower risks of several cancers.” (1)
“Too much rest can lead to loss of body function, muscle weakness, and reduced range of motion. So today, many cancer care teams are urging their patients to be as physically active as possible during cancer treatment. Many people are learning about the advantages of being physically active after treatment, too.” (4)
“Research indicates that physical activity may have beneficial effects for several aspects of cancer survivorship–specifically, weight gain, quality of life, cancer recurrence or progression, and prognosis (likelihood of survival). Most of the evidence for the potential benefits of physical activity in cancer survivors comes from people diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer.” (2a, 2b)
WAYS EXERCISE CAN HELP
Keep or improve your physical abilities (how well you can use your body to do things)
Improve balance, lower risk of falls and broken bones
Keep muscles from wasting due to inactivity
Lower the risk of heart disease
Lessen the risk of osteoporosis (weak bones that are more likely to break)
Improve blood flow to your legs and lower the risk of blood clots
Make you less dependent on others for help with normal activities of daily living
Improve your self-esteem
Lower the risk of being anxious and depressed
Lessen nausea
Improve your ability to keep social contacts
Lessen symptoms of tiredness (fatigue)
Help you control your weight
Improve your quality of life
Brave Like Gabe.
World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global PerspectiveExit Disclaimer. Washington DC: AICR, 2007.
a. Speck RM, Courneya KS, Masse LC, Duval S, Schmitz KH. An update of controlled physical activity trials in cancer survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Cancer Survivorship 2010; 4(2):87-100.
b. Rock CL, Doyle C, Demark-Wahnefried W, et al. Nutrition and physical activity guidelines for cancer survivors. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2012; 62(4):243-274.
Grisham J. What are the benefits of exercising during and after cancer treatment? Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, January 2, 2014.
Survivorship during and after treatment. American Cancer Society, March 24, 2014
Physical Activity and Cancer. National Cancer Institute, January 27, 2017.
Abigail Anderson, Sister of the Late Gabe Grunewald, Was Hit by a Driver and Killed (August 19, 2021)
Running community mourns Abby Anderson, sister of ‘Gabe’ Grunewald | FOX 9.
Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Survivors – Bing video