The legacy that Gabe Grunewald left is still being felt every day, and will be felt until the end of time.
The talented runner and national champion passed away in 2019 after a courageous battle with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. Even as she dealt with the cancer, which she was first diagnosed with in 2009, Gabe’s brave, courageous and loving spirit uplifted those around her, especially those dealing with cancer themselves.
The Brave Like Gabe Foundation seeks to fulfill the mission that she started of giving back to the communities that supported her throughout her journey, but also to provide support, comfort and hope for those battling cancer, in addition to helping to fund research to provide cures for those with a rare cancer.
The Foundation uses the month of June to celebrate Gabe’s life, but also to donate to rare cancer foundations that they partner with. They started a special campaign in the month of June to raise $37,000 to donate to the foundations, and to celebrate what would’ve been Gabe’s 37th birthday.
Alyssa Hawkins, Executive Director of the Brave Like Gabe Foundation, recently talked with me to discuss more about the campaign, as well as what it means to be brave like Gabe.
Dom: So tell me about this campaign that you guys have right now and to some of the things that were behind it.
Alyssa: So when we think about Gabe, often June is a poignant month – it’s her birthday on Sunday, June 25, and she loved to celebrate her birthday. So we have over the years taken advantage of that by hosting the 5k on her day, also launching some new merch, on her day. It’s also the month that she passed away in 2019. So that anniversary is June 11. And we take the opportunity to just elevate her this month. One of Gabes goals was to elevate others, and inspire people to share their stories of doing hard things. But in June, we really think mostly about Gabe. So we decided this year to launch our 5k registration on Global Running Day. So on June 7, we opened that for our September event, and along with it said “Gabe would have been 37 This Sunday, though, let’s see if we can raise $37,000.”
And one of the brilliant parts of this community is that I often describe it as like the Obama campaign – people give small amounts a lot. And people engage in a variety of ways that are meaningful to them. It doesn’t always mean somebody’s writing a $100,000 check. So we wanted to have three accessible ways to get to that birthday goal of $37,000. So one is to register for the 5k. The second is to purchase some merchandise, and the third is to donate. The goal is to raise money, I think a lot of times asked infer money feels burdensome and nobody loves doing it. But I really feel like the Brave Like Gabe community shows up every time and then a variety of ways that we can allow people to connect and help us. Money’s our thing. We fundraise for cancer research, we’re always going to be raising money, but the more creative ways we can do it, I think the broader the community can be.”
Dom: So we talked about this campaign that is going for cancer research. Is it a specific kind of cancer research – the one that she battled or just in general?
Alyssa: So this is more into our general fund, which funds for different grants every year. So this one isn’t necessarily earmarked for one specific, but the four that we give to include her specific form of cancer. So we give to the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation, and they are badass, they’re awesome. It’s a husband and wife – the woman was diagnosed with ACC – Gabe’s cancer, almost 20 years ago. And at the time, there was no research, zero, and they can tie every piece of existing ACC research to their foundation and funding. They’ve made that kind of impact on Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. So we fund them on an annual basis. We also support research here at the University of Minnesota, in our coma research, and we participate with the University because it’s most of our alma mater, it’s definitely Gabe’s and Justin’s and Abby’s, but I am a proud Gopher as well. So it’s our hometown spot and where Gabe received some treatment. And we fund research at Memorial Sloan Kettering where we support two projects there. One is looking at endometrial cancer in black women, and the other is looking at cancer that disproportionately affects people of color. And for Brave Like Gabe, we’re a lot of white folks who run, and we want to put our money into research that’s supporting both rare cancers, but also cancers that are disproportionately impacting underrepresented communities. So we’re really proud of those partnerships at Memorial Sloan Kettering. And then the last place is Fred Hutch in Seattle in partnership with Brooks. So together, Brave Like Gabe and Brooks Running support a fellowship there in Gabe’s name. And right now the fellow is studying Merkel cell carcinoma. So it’s all different kinds of rare cancers. We don’t feel competitive, necessarily between the rare cancers – they all need as much money as they can get. But those are our four grants.
Dom: What’s the response been like for you? Has it exceeded your expectations? Has it been what you thought?
Alyssa: So like I said, the foundation exists to raise money every day. What for me has been really meaningful about issuing a challenge or making a simple ask is that this community shows up. And a lot of communities do. But in this case, we really need money. What we’re asking you to do is give your hard earned cash to us and we might give you a hat in return, but we’re also asking you to participate in something that is hard and sad, and just shitty, and a lot of days cancer sucks. And the way that people wait for the registration to open or get excited about the dropping of new merch is pretty fantastic. We sold half the hats on the first day, though we bought a limited amount. Not sure what would happen, half of them went out the door on that first day – we’re down to less than 50 I think at this point. So while I am excited to see the response, I’m not necessarily surprised. I have seen time and time again that not just Gabe’s story – but the stories we all have are really motivating. And this is an action step people can take. Something you can actually do is put your money towards research. And get a cool hat in the interim.
Dom: Last question. What does it mean to be brave like Gabe? And how does this campaign show that everyone can be brave like Gabe? In your own words.
Alyssa: In my own words, I will start with a Gabe quote. Which is, she really hoped that she could make something beautiful out of a really hard situation. June is a hard month at Brave Like Gabe, we celebrate her every day. But the anniversaries come around every year. And we’re reminded that she’s not here to tell her own story. So I think being Brave Like Gabe is honestly and authentically showing up for this work. And celebrating when you can. Sharing your story and the pain when you can. And just hanging in there. Persistence is the word I use a lot when I think of being brave. Some days are really crappy. But the gift is waking up the next morning and trying again.
Visit the official Brave Like Gabe website for more information, merchandise and to sign up for the annual Brave Like Gabe 5k.
