A professional athlete is refusing to try and run away from her lengthy, and heart-wrenching battle with cancer – but she is planning to run through it.
Gabriele Grunewald, 31, was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer found primarily in the salivary glands, at the age of 22 while a student at the University of Minnesota, and has since seen the illness return three more times.
Her battle with cancer began in 2009 when she discovered a lump on her neck, the runner told Cosmopolitan, adding that she knew something was wrong almost immediately so she went to the doctor, who proceeded to do a biopsy.
Diagnosed at 22: Gabriele Grunewald, 31, was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma while she was a student at the University of Minnesota. Photo taken in June 2017
‘I can get through it’: When she was diagnosed the first time, she told herself that she was going to pull through
Gabriele said she specifically remembered that procedure because even with everything she has endured since, nothing has been more painful, she told Sports Illustrated.
Devastatingly, however, this painful procedure would end up being just one of many she has since had to endure in her battle against cancer, which saw her beat the disease numerous times, only for it to return again and again.
When her cancer came back last August, for the third time, Gabriele received the heart-breaking news that she would have to undergo surgery to remove the large tumor that had taken occupancy in her liver.
Doctors removed the tumor and the right lobe of her liver but not without leaving behind a battle scar in a purple, crescent-shaped line on her stomach – but Gabriele isn’t one to let a scar hold her back as she sometimes shows off making her easy to spot when she’s dashing on the track.
Since the time of her first diagnosis, Gabriele has managed to maintain her courage and optimism – and her passion for running, which she has kept up throughout all four of her battles with the brutal disease.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan about her feelings after receiving the initial diagnosis when she was just 22 years old, Gabriele insisted that her main emotion was one of determination, explaining: ‘In that moment I had a swirl of different thoughts, but as a 22-year-old, I think I mainly thought I was gonna get through it.’
A constant battle: In 2011, the runner discovered that the cancer had returned. Photo taken in June 2017
Running again: After treatment for the second bout, she ran in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic trials
She was right and did manage to get through it, while running during a season that she called the best of her life.
‘I never expected to run so much faster after a cancer diagnosis. But I was really motivated to get the most out of myself,’ she explained.
A concept that Gabriele is all too familiar with especially after hearing for the fourth time that her cancer has returned.
But this time, she knows the drill and will undergo chemotherapy and perhaps a clinical trial according to the New York Times.
‘It gives me hope. Hey, maybe we can get this under control. And I can turn one year into another and I can have a long life,’ she told the publication.
But despite her hope, she still has concerns about what her future may look like. ‘When I think about the future, I’m definitely scared about what it holds in terms of my health,’ she told Cosmopolitan.
Faced with cancer again: In 2016, she found out that she had cancer for the third time
Battle scars: Gabriele now has a scar on her stomach from where doctors removed a portion of her liver
But despite her fear, she has always tried to focus on being a runner and not a cancer survivor – although she is happy to hold both titles.
‘I’m not going to fight this label – I’m just going to do my best to be the best cancer-surviving runner I can be.’
And even after her multiple diagnosis, she has managed to be a great cancer-surviving runner. She beat the disease after she was diagnosed for the second time in October 2011 when it moved to her thyroid.
‘I just told myself, I’ve done this before, I can do it again. I can be a two-time cancer survivor. And I recovered from the surgery and I did a treatment and I started running again.’
And run she did. She finished fourth in the 2012 US Olympic trials, almost making it to London and in 2014, she recorded the fastest time for a female American athlete in the 3,000m.
Olympic dreams: Despite finding out that she had cancer for the fourth time, she still hopes to one day go to the Olympics
An unknown future: Gabriele said she’s scared for what the future holds but for now is going to be the best ‘cancer-surviving runner I can be’
And in 2016 she competed in the Olympic trials, but was once again met with disappointment.
But her disappointment at the trials wasn’t to be her only devastation that year. Shortly after the trials she learned that the cancer had returned for the third time in her liver – and again, in March, for the fourth time.
Despite beating the disease multiple times before, her and her and marathoner husband, Justin Grunewald, don’t know what the future holds.
She still has Olympic dreams but she’s not sure how much more her cancer-ridden body can endure when it comes to competing at a professional level.
‘I can’t pretend that I’m fine because I’m not fine. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,’ she told the New York Times.
There was no race that could have prepared Gabriele for this but meets and competitions aside, she knows that the only she can control is making the best of the time she has left – at home and on the track.
‘I’m definitely scared, but I’m hopeful that maybe, even if I can’t 100 per cent get rid of it, perhaps it can co-exist with me,’ she told NBC Sports. ‘I’m just trying to hang on to running, because running has helped me so much.’