Lucky Girl
When deciding how I would want to relaunch Heart Happy, it was pretty much a no-brainer that I would want my first piece surrounding Annalise! Annalise is seriously one of the most amazing humans on this planet. She has been through so much and carries herself with such humility, joy and selflessness. You seriously would have no idea anything is ever wrong. She is a living ball of sunshine! This is what inspired the "Lucky Girl" idea. It can be so easy to let circumstances influence your attitude and Annalise is such an amazing example of gratitude and positivity despite what is happening. A "Lucky Girl Mindset";). I am so inspired by her constantly and am so excited for more people to hear her story!
Annalise's Story:
"Age 21. The year that is supposed to be filled with fun memories. Ending my junior year of college, finally feeling closer to being a real adult, beginning the first of many lasts. This was also the year that I was diagnosed with a colon disease that would completely change my life. Hearing those words — “There is no cure. You will have to undergo treatment for the rest of your life, and it could pose some serious risks” — were not what 21-year-old me thought I would be hearing. As I sat in that doctor’s office, I remember thinking, “What do you mean I have a lifelong disease? Before now, my biggest worry was what I was going to wear to dinner Friday night with my friends.” I did not understand God’s purpose in this yet.
Fast forward to age 22, my senior year of college. What was supposed to be the best year of my college career turned into the hardest year of my entire life. Despite a year filled with doctor’s visits, tried and failed treatments, and lifestyle changes, in the last month of school, my disease took a turn for the worse. I decided to go home for the weekend, thinking that a quick trip to my parents’ house would be a good reset. What was supposed to be a short stay turned into a 20-day hospitalization, trying to get my disease controlled and my body stabilized.
During my hospitalization, aside from fighting with my disease, I developed two blood clots in my legs that ultimately caused me to have two pulmonary embolisms. As I was being transferred to a bigger hospital by ambulance — one that was better equipped to deal with a patient of my severity — I remember praying and thinking, “God, I don’t know why this is happening, but please help me understand. I’m scared and confused.”
That month, I watched my friends experience all the lasts of college together. I watched my college graduation — the one I was supposed to be at — from my hospital bed, in a room that my parents and nurses had so graciously decorated for me with “Congrats, Grad!” posters and banners, all the while wondering if and when I was going to get to go home and if my life could return to normal.
When I was finally released from the hospital, my fight was not over. I spent the next month bedridden, unable to walk on my own, unable to leave my house except for doctor’s visits, learning how to give myself IV infusions at home to keep my body going — all the while still searching for a treatment that would hopefully lead to remission. During this time, my friends, family, church members, doctors, nurses, and even strangers repeatedly told me God was working through me, and that one day I would understand why this was happening. But I did not understand yet.
That was two years ago. I am 24 now, closer to remission than I ever have been, and so grateful to be able to say that now I understand. I understand why this battle was placed in my life.
God’s purpose and timing are so divine. It has allowed me to have a completely changed perspective of what it means to truly live, and a profound connection with Jesus. What I used to place as high importance in my life is now mundane.
I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to appreciate the little things now — like driving my car around and listening to music, taking myself on walks, even having what I might have once called “boring” days — because I woke up today, and I woke up healthy.
Even on your hardest days, God is there to guide you and hold your hand, like He did for me. The relationship I have with Him has translated into every area of my life and made me a better person — one who is able to listen with empathy, spread and share love willingly, find the silver lining, and not take a single second of life for granted. I am so lucky. I am lucky to have a new love for life and its true purpose, lucky to have a story worth telling, and so beyond lucky to have an audience to listen. As contradictory as it might sound, this disease has healed many parts of me. I really am one lucky girl."
- Annalise Henry
*A portion of profits will be going to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, but if you want to make a separate donation the link is here: https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/
