Wilfrid Laurier University head coach Peter Grinbergs hospitalized

My coach for the past 15 years, Peter Grinbergs, was recently hospitalized and needs financial help when he leaves. Please donate if you can, to a guy who continues to be a huge positive influence for hundreds of youth and adults.
Pete's Fund https://t.co/emU0d0r5MO pic.twitter.com/2vENazdvcV

— Jordan Fox (@JordanCFox) November 28, 2017

Wilfrid Laurier University cross-country and track head coach Peter Grinbergs was hospitalized on Nov. 20 after being found on his apartment floor without food or water for four days, according to his daughter.

The southern Ontario-based athletics coach has guided multiple Olympians and IAAF World Championships qualifiers during his career including, but not limited to, Nate Brannen, Kathy Butler, Paula Schnurr, Doug Consiglio and Danuta Bartozak, according to Waterloo, Ont.-based Laurier Athletics. Grinbergs also coaches the Tri-City [Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo] Track Club.

According to Grinbergs’s daughter Sacha, “On Monday Nov. 20, Pete Grinbergs was found in his apartment by emergency services, unable to move or get off the floor after four days without food or water. It is unclear what caused him to go down, but his doctor speculates it was a massive gout [type of arthritis] attack. Since arriving at the hospital, they’ve also found a stomach ulcer as well as a blood clot in his lung. He is still unable to walk and will be in the hospital for some time.”

A crowdfunding campaign, via GoFundMe, was started in Grinbergs’s name, with the aim of raising $25,000, as of Dec. 1. More than $24,500 has been raised, intended for “ongoing hospital bills, clean-up of his current living space, and his household expenses,” as of this writing.

“Currently, I will be paying his rent and other bills and anticipate using the rest of the funds to secure new housing for him, potentially in long term care or an apartment that is accessible for his mobility needs,” Sacha says, per the GoFundMe page.

The Laurier Golden Hawks returned from Victoria in early November where a number of Grinbergs’s current athletes competed at the 2017 U Sports Cross-Country Championships including OUA second-team all-star Bettina Boucher and Joe Sheridan.