Lili-Anne Tellier is an inspiring young woman, generous and devoted. From the time she was born 18 years ago, she’s lived with a diagnosis of common variable immunodeficiency. The disease means that Lili-Anne doesn’t have enough antibodies to protect herself if a virus or microbe attacks her body. The illness also robs her of her energy. She’s not always able to get through a full day at school, and her teachers sometimes need to call her parents to come pick her up.

Her healthcare team assumed that her illness would be temporary, that it would go away over time, so she didn’t receive treatment until she was five. It was only when she was six that Lili-Anne and her family learned that her immunodeficiency would always be part of her life, and she started to receive intravenous immunoglobulin, the antibodies found in plasma. Every month, she goes to the hospital to receive transfusions, a process that lasts eight hours.

Lili-Anne describes herself as a young woman with a full life, not limited by her illness. She has two big passions that take up a lot of space in her heart, and she feels lucky to be able to devote herself to them.