Meet the amazing woman, who despite her rare and devastating illness, dedicated her final days to charity, raising awareness and funds for others fighting against all odds.
Annaliese Holland, from South Australia, was determined to make every moment count despite her terminal condition.
Annaliese had Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy (AAG), which prevented vital signals from her brain from reaching her organs.
She said: “I am not guaranteed tomorrow, I want to do what I can in the time I have.
“Why take my story to the grave when I could reach out and help one person.”
Annaliese’s disease was extremely rare with only around 100 Americans being diagnosed with it every year.
When caught early, it can be treated but unfortunately for Annaliese, this wasn’t the case as her condition took her through unimaginable challenges.
After having ten feet of bowel removed, Annaliese was unable to eat or drink and was dependent on an intravenous feeding tube, which is a flexible tube used to carry fluids into or out of the body.
In Annaliese’s case she was being fed through a vein, to gain the vital nutrients needed to live.
She was also dependent on a stoma, a hole in the abdominal wall used to allow waste to leave, and a colostomy bag, which collects the waste.
Having an intravenous feeding tube had been a painful process for Annaliese as her body often rejected it, meaning she had sepsis, a dangerous blood infection, over 30 times.
She spent her time with an intravenous feeding tube at the South Australia Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) unit in Adelaide, Australia.
The ward was dedicated to supporting people like Annaliese and was run by the dedicated Dr Andrew Holt since the 1990s.
Andrew and his team worked tirelessly to support patients like Annaliese through their illnesses and keep them going despite the challenges they face and this inspired Annaliese’s charitable spirit.
In 2023, she had to have surgery on her spine as it was pushing on her lungs and impacting her ability to breathe.
All this led to Annaliese being too weak to receive any more treatment, this meant that if her current treatment began to fail, or her condition deteriorated any further, she could not have done anything to save her life.
However, she did not let this slow her down and her spirit only grew stronger.
Annaliese spent her time helping people with rare diseases and even walked the City Bay Charity Fun Run in Adelaide.
Her efforts caught the attention of another terminally ill patient, Lilly Thai, and the two formed a deep bond until Lilly’s passing, motivating Annaliese to continue her efforts even more fiercely.
This only pushed Annaliese on more as she saw how important spreading her story was.
Annaliese teamed up with Dr. Holt to complete a 3 km charity walk, raising over AUD $15,000 (£7,611) for a desperately needed liver scanner at the South Australian HPN.
She explained: “When I got my diagnosis, all of a sudden my life had come to a halt.
“It was really hard thinking about my future.
“Knowing I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I had planned for.”
She added: “I didn’t want anyone to have to go through what I went through; I didn’t want anyone to struggle like I had.
“There’s not enough awareness for young people with terminal illnesses, when people think about it, they always think of old people.
“If I can help one person not go through what I went through, then that would be really important.”
Annaliese added: “I want to leave this world a happier place and I just want to give to people.
“We will continue doing the charity fun runs, even if someone has to push me in a chair, I don’t care I will keep doing them.
“We will do whatever we can to raise money for the unit and try to keep it running for as long as possible.”