Woman, 25, reveals heartbreaking reason she is choosing to end her life with voluntary assisted dying

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.

A 25-year-old woman has shared the devastating reason why she has chosen to die by assisted suicide.

Annaliese Holland, from Australia, was frequently in and out of hospital as a child. However, it was not until she was transferred to a hospital for adults that medics found out what was affecting her.

"I've been sick since being a child really, I lived in and out of the hospital ever since I went in for nine months," she told news.com.au.

"It actually took until I transitioned to the adult hospital that we found the diagnosis, and it came back that I did have this autoimmune disease that was causing it all along."

This is a condition called Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy, which affects heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and urination.

Annaliese has not been able to eat in years (Annaliese Holland)

Years of suffering from her condition

Due to being diagnosed so late, things quickly became serious for Annaliese - so much so that eventually, she could not eat any more, and hasn't eaten anything for 10 years.

The South Australian also experiences nausea and vomiting on 'a daily', making day-to-day life painful and exhausting.

"My stool would back up so much that I would throw it up or drain it out my tummy," she explained. "I was put on something called Total Parenteral Nutrition or TPN and that's basically a bag of nutrition that's delivered directly into your bloodstream through like, a line in your chest."

Over the years, Annaliese has had several operations, and said on a GoFundMe page she started for charity that she has lost over 10 feet of her bowels, leading to a condition called Intestinal Failure.

Annaliese receives nutrients medically, but still feels pangs of hunger when she smells food around her.

Annaliese's decision to die by voluntary assisted dying

Explaining her decision to die by assisted suicide, she said it feels like a 'safety blanket' knowing she can end things when she can no longer bear it.

“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.

"The pain of starving to death when they can’t feed me anymore, or the horror of sepsis. Knowing I can go when the time is right is just a huge relief.

“It’s so weird to be happy about it, but I am so happy and I feel so lucky that I do have this choice. It’s controversial and I haven’t really talked about it properly yet. But it’s so important.”

She has made the decision to end her life (Annaliese Holland)

While she has made the heartbreaking decision to end her life - with voluntary assisted dying being legal in all of Australia's states - Annaliese still has some things she wants to do, which she calls her 'F*ck It List'.

Among them is trying on a wedding dress.

“No man wants to date someone dying, I get it," she said. "But I would love to try one on, see what it feels like.”

UNILAD has approached Annaliese Holland for comment.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.