News & Current Events
25-Year-Old Woman Opts For Assisted Death After Lifelong Battle With Rare, Debilitating Disease
After a lifetime of suffering and despair, a young Australian lady who is near death has taken the painful and contentious decision to terminate her life with medical assistance. She is clinging to what little power she still has.
In a candid and heartbreaking interview with News.com.au that was published on November 17, 2025, 25-year-old South Australian Annaliese “Annie” Holland disclosed that she had been given permission to pass away following years of relentless decline.
Her approval, which came about as a result of severe symptoms, near-death situations, and the crippling terror of one more, protracted nightmare, exposes the grief, moral dilemma, and emotional destruction that families must deal with when suffering has driven a person past the point of no return.
Her Body Turned Against Her
After years of fighting ailments that wouldn’t go away, the young woman, who has spent more time in hospital wards than schoolyards, now joins almost 2,400 other Australians who have made this decision.
Initially attributed to endometriosis, Annie’s nightmare started when she was just 12 or 13. Physicians believed that to be the cause of everything. Her life was sucked away by crushing chronic weariness after glandular fever.
The horrifying reality that her body was attacking itself wasn’t revealed until she was moved to an adult hospital.
Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy (AAG), a rare and cruel condition that affects the body’s autopilot system, was the diagnosis made for her. Her heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and even her ability to urinate were all controlled by nerves that gradually started to malfunction.
If detected early, the ailment is not necessarily lethal. However, Annie’s diagnosis was made so late that the treatments themselves became risky.
The Treatments Led to More Problems
She is currently experiencing multi-organ failure, with her body shutting down due to malfunctioning nerves that regulate her bowel movements. She is unable to properly digest food or remove waste as a result of the disastrous issues this has caused.
Eventually, she was put on total parenteral nutrition, or TPN, an intravenous lifeline that bypasses her gastrointestinal system entirely and feeds all of her nutrients directly into her bloodstream.
“At night I am fed with a drip for like 12 hours and I get my fluids the same way to stay hydrated,” Annie revealed. She has relied on TPN for ten years, but it is no salvation at all. It carries a constant threat of infection that can rapidly spiral into sepsis.
This young woman has already experienced 25 terrible episodes of sepsis, each time requiring her TPN line to be removed by medical professionals. Furthermore, there aren’t many major veins in the body that can support such a device safely.
“I have lost so many now that this current line is my last line left for nutrition so if I lose this then I will die of malnutrition,” she continued. “There’s no other way to get me food or fluid that I can tolerate. I don’t want to starve to death.”
Bones Shattered, Spine Fractured, and Still She Fought
Sadly, her condition’s sufferings don’t end there. A significant portion of her treatment involved steroids, which had terrible side effects, such as severe osteoporosis.
After falling asleep on a hospital railing for a few minutes, her bones became so brittle that she cracked her sternum and fractured her spine multiple times.
The doctors informed her that they were at a loss on what to do. Her bones were too weak to tolerate any kind of surgery, thus it was impossible to restore her spine.
Annie wasn’t prepared to give up, though. Unwavering in her resolve, she searched the internet and located a physician who specialised in operating on elderly women suffering from osteoporosis.
Her spinal cord was only one fracture away from breaking altogether, so it was a last-ditch effort, but they had no other option. After a torturous 13-hour surgery, she spent two months in the hospital recuperating after going into a five-day coma.
It was ultimately worthwhile because she was able to have a straight back. Yet another brutal toll was taken by the steroids. They stopped the blood supply to her bones by causing necrosis.
Her teeth started to fall out and turn black. In addition, she endured excruciating dental infections while struggling to maintain her remaining strength.
A Choice That Brings Peace but Breaks Hearts Around Her
The young lady, who presently resides in their Adelaide home with her mother, Amanda Holland, father, Patrick Holland, and sister, Vickie Holland, claims that receiving approval for voluntary assisted dying is a huge relief.
She is not, however, rushing to her demise. Instead, after years of being powerless, she at last feels in charge.
“For me, I don’t want to have to wake up every day with anxiety about the pain that I know is ahead for me,” she said. “[…] Knowing I can go when the time is right is just a huge relief.”
Annie feels lucky to have this choice, but despite seeing every bit of her pain, her father still struggles with the heartbreaking reality of letting his daughter leave.
He is all too familiar with the experience. Every hospital stay turns into a catastrophe where things get out of hand.
“The amount of times Annie has been in hospital and on her death bed … to have to sit there and watch her go through it,” he stated to News.com.au. “But she is amazing, anything we have to deal with goes into insignificance because we are not the ones going through it.”
He occasionally became angry with her doctors because she was too hurt by some of their choices. He acknowledges, however, that he could never have withstood the incredible ordeals that Annie did.
Annie is aware that her sister and parents are having a hard time accepting her VAD decision.
“Dad is still coming to terms with it, it’s hard for all of them,” she said, remembering a difficult conversation they had one night when she told him she had “had enough.”
Annie claimed that it was not surrender when Patrick enquired if she was giving up. It was only realising that she had been repeatedly pushed past her limit.
She spent several terrifying nights in the hospital shortly after that emotional conversation, nights so hazardous that she required resuscitation.
At one agonizing moment, she looked at her father and begged, “Dad please let me go, I will not hate you if you let me go. If this happens again I don’t want anything. Please know in my heart you are letting me go and saying ‘no’ to treatment … that’s what I want.”
Patrick finally got it.
Annie might not even have six months to live, which is one of the requirements for VAD. Her disease does not have a timeline. Anything can occur at any time.
A Bucket List and a Fight to Live Before She Dies
Annie is unable to lead the carefree life of a typical 25-year-old due to everything her body has been through. Her days consist of a delicate network of tubes and frequent drug injections. It may end with one misstep or a small piece of equipment malfunctioning.
Annie still experiences nagging stomachaches and bittersweet cravings whenever she observes others eating, despite receiving her nourishment through TPN.
Despite all of the pain, Annie maintains a brave expression. She is making the most of her remaining life rather than just waiting for death.
She is now preparing to live independently and is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to watch Lady Gaga perform live with her mother and sister.
She has also made a sincere bucket list.
Trying on a wedding gown is one of her most surprising desires. She hasn’t dated because of her illness, but she wants to give it a try.
Annie has never even attended a wedding, although other women her age are preparing weddings and beginning families. She has instead given eulogies at far too many funerals for young individuals who, like her, were taken too soon.
However, she is already anticipating renting her first flat, a tiny bit of independence in a world that has deprived her of so much. The opportunity to live independently is crucial, even if she is aware that she will still require assistance and be unable to work.
“I’m really, really excited about it because even if it’s only for a short time, it is something I can tick off the list and at least experience,” Annie stated.
Annie has no resentment in that regard, even if her illness would never have progressed to such a disastrous degree if it had been identified earlier. Rather, she hopes that by telling her tale, the next person will receive a diagnosis sooner and avoid the pain she endured.
Nevertheless, she has struggled with the purpose of her life and the legacy she will leave behind as she approaches the end of her days. She ultimately decided to discuss her illness in public for this reason.
A Little Jealousy
Despite her reluctance to admit it, Annie frequently felt envious of the elderly and ill patients in hospitals because they were allowed to live their lives.
She has missed a lot of important occasions. At first, it didn’t hurt as much since she genuinely thought she would eventually recover and see everything that lay outside the hospital.
But when things got too tough, she grew upset with the world since she was just there while all of her friends were moving on.
At one point, she envisioned herself in a typical future. Two years ago, following yet another exhausting hospital stay, Annie looked in the mirror and could not recognise the person staring back, thus she is now speaking instead.
Her days had devolved into an agonising and unrelenting routine of taking medicine and merely surviving until sleep. It wasn’t alive. She wanted to make the most of her remaining quality of life, so she informed her doctors that palliative care was necessary.
“It kept me out of the hospital almost for a year last year, which is unheard of. They’ve managed to do everything at home, keep me with my family where I want to be, which is amazing,” she explained.
The Friend Who Sparked This Decision
Annie expressed a gentle hope for the hereafter during the interview. In her dreams, she sees food in heaven, including pizza, coconuts, and everything else she has never been able to taste.
Above all, she would like to share a piece with her close friend Lily Thai, who battled Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and passed away in June 2023 due to VAD.
Annie’s eyes were first opened to that road by Lily. Annie had no idea that she would experience something so final at the time. There was always the possibility that things would become better.
However, everything changed as she grew worse and was asked to remain by Lily’s side in her last moments.
“I held her hand as they administered the euthanasia. And it was just one of the most beautiful things I’d ever been part of. She just closed her eyes, and it was so [expletive] peaceful,” she revealed.
Her Biggest Fear About the End
Her fear of starving in the event that her feeding line is withdrawn is one of the main reasons she selected VAD. She won’t put up with any more suffering.
Her nurses and physicians have witnessed every aspect of her pain and are aware that this anxiety is genuine. Naturally, before being approved, she also needed to see psychologists.
She went through the full process, and three weeks later, she finally received the news she had barely dared to hope for. “I think it’s so weird to be happy, but I was so happy when I found out I was approved, I was crying,” Annie recalled.
She added that selecting VAD entails something unexpected and valuable. She will be alive to hear all the considerate things that people would typically save for her burial.
She hopes to pass away at home for the time being. However, she is quite concerned about how it would affect her family.
“This is a place where they remember me being me. I would hate for them to have a place where they’re always reminded of that moment and there is no escape for them,” she expressed.
If she can avoid it, she won’t cause them any more suffering. She has considered all sides of this contentious choice.
Because Annie feels that death and the decisions surrounding it shouldn’t be taboo, she hopes that her tale will eventually encourage people to view VAD in a different way.
She has experienced many wonderful times, but she has also gone through experiences that no one else could really comprehend.
“At the end of the day it’s my body, I’ve spent 12 plus years being part of a system, a number, not a person, and the pain inflicted on me … it’s my turn, it’s my choice, nobody else’s and that’s a conversation we all should be able to have,” Annie said.
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