Annaliese, 26, knows exactly when her life will end. Before then, she's on a special mission

For someone so full of life, it's hard to fathom that Annaliese Holland is dying.

The 26-year-old knows exactly when - and how - her life will end.

In months, she will undergo voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in Adelaide.

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It's a decision Annie's body has forced her to make. 

"I don't want to die. I still wish for a future that I'm never going to have," she told A Current Affair.

"This isn't me just choosing to end it, I'm going to die anyway. It's just me choosing when and how."

For most of Annie's life, hospital has been a second home.

Sick since the age of 12, it took six years to put a name to the pain she felt each and every day - a rare condition called autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy (AAG).

The disease causes the immune system to attack the autonomic nervous system.

The disease isn't always terminal, but by the time Annie was diagnosed at 18, several of her organs were already failing. Her teeth are falling out and she is in constant, debilitating pain.

'More scared to survive than I was to die'

Annie currently injects pain medication 12 times a day.

She can no longer eat or absorb food, and hasn't had a real meal in 10 years.

Instead, she survives through total parenteral nutrition (TPN): a bag of nutrition delivered directly into her bloodstream through a line in her chest.

Infection is common and Annie has had sepsis more than 25 times.

She only has one vein left that can be used for TPN, so another infection would be fatal.

"If this [vein] gets blocked then basically there's no way of giving me hydration or food…you basically starve to death."

Annie used to oppose voluntary assisted dying, admitting she "didn't understand it at all".

Then she met Lily Thai. She was the same age as Annie, and had the same disease. 

Lily had been approved for VAD, and asked Annie to be by her side as she took her last breath in June 2023.

"[Lily] told me 'You'll know when you know' before she passed, and I said 'How can you? How can you not want another day?'.

"She just looked at me and [said] 'You'll know when you know'."

For Annie, that time came last year when she got really sick with sepsis again.

"I think in that moment I remember feeling more scared to survive than I was to die," Annie shared.

Breaking the stigma

Palliative care specialist Dr Chloe Furst will walk Annie through her final chapter, administering her end-of-life medication and helping her family through the process.

"We don't like talking about death, I think. So the thought that someone might want to actually bring this on slightly earlier, I think is where the stigma comes from," Furst said.

"We shouldn't consider assisted dying any differently to other medical interventions, and why prolong suffering and have reduced dignity when we have an option that gives people that choice?"

That stigma is only amplified in young people.

"When someone is younger, like Annie, I think there is this perception that they obviously haven't lived the full life and they haven't had the experiences that maybe older adults have had," Chloe said.

"But at the end of the day, I know that this is truly what Annie wants.

"Annie's suffering is no more or less than someone that's 90 just because of their age."

Annie's 'f--- it' list

Annie's birthday in January was her last. She'll forever be 26.

She knows the date she will die, but she's keeping that between her and those who mean the most.

While she is here, Annie is spending quality time with family and friends.

And she's got a long to-do list of life experiences many of us take for granted.

"It's my f--- it list!" she laughed.

Annie has been busy ticking things off, from renting her own apartment, her dad seeing her in a wedding dress and watching the birth of a baby.

A Current Affair and Aerotech helped her tick off another special wish, from high in the sky.

Watch the full story in the player above.