Community Corner
End-Of-Life Care Begins For MN Runner Gabriele Grunewald, 32
Gabriele Grunewald — a professional runner — continued to compete after her cancer diagnosis in 2009.
MINNEAPOLIS — Gabriele Grunewald, a professional distance runner who competed for the University of Minnesota, has entered comfort care. Grunewald’s husband, Justin, posted about the decision to move her to end-of-life care on Instagram Sunday.
Grunewald, 32, was born in Perham, Minnesota. She was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma — a form of cancer — in 2009. She was on both the Gophers’ track and cross-country teams at that time.
Even after treatment for her began — which included surgery and radiation therapy — Grunewald continued to compete and inspired many.
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She was the 2014 U.S. indoor champion in the 3,000, reports the Star Tribune.
"It breaks my heart to say but overnight Gabriele’s status worsened with worsening liver function causing confusion," Justin wrote June 9. "Wanting to do her no harm we have made the difficult decision to move her to comfort cares this afternoon."
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"I wanted to let you all know while she is still alive so you can send her one last message here or on her wall or on her phone before she heads up to heaven," he said.
View this post on Instagram*** update read whole post *** It breaks my heart to say but overnight Gabriele’s status worsened with worsening liver function causing confusion. Wanting to do her no harm we have made the difficult decision to move her to comfort cares this afternoon. I wanted to let you all know while she is still alive so you can send her one last message here or on her wall or on her phone before she heads up to heaven. I wrote this to her a couple years ago below and wanted to share what she means to me. Dear Gabriele, First, thank you. Thank you so much for showing me what it's like to be and feel alive. It's easy to pass through life day to day and punch a time card wishing away the hours. Currently although I don't always show it, I cherish every second. Whether we are out running, binging on a new Netflix series, or just lying in bed being lazy. Nothing beats the feeling I get when I see your smiling face. I know life is scary and I know we have won the lottery of uncertainty, and it's not fair, but I still choose our life of uncertainly and at times fear, over any alternative option I could think of. I have so much fun with you and have learned more from having you as my best friend and wife than I learned in the rest of my life combined. I know you have been given the heaviest of tasks in life. The task of being brave despite feeling enormous amounts of fear. The task of smiling when your throat wells up with pain and eyes want to fill with tears, but I don't think you were chosen by random chance, and again I know that's not fair but you are so amazing at being you and that's why I feel bravelikegabe is so special. Because there isn't a word in the dictionary for what you do or who you are. Brave flails in comparison to what you are to me and to so many people out there facing the simplest and silliest of struggles in day to day life. At the end of the day people won't remember the PRs run or the teams qualified for but they will remember that hard period in their life where they were losing hope but they found inspiration in a young lady who refuses to give up. I love you ❤️ #bravelikegabe #runningonhope
A post shared by Justin Grunewald (@justingrunewald1) on Jun 9, 2019 at 12:48pm PDT
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