Why Annafanatics?

I lost my beloved daughter Anna after two and a half years of fighting leukaemia together. During those years I watched amazing people work in an impossible organisation. And because I cared for them too and wanted to make things better for them, during that time, I somehow turned from someone who had nebulous ideas about things people should do differently to someone who has a UX design certificate and can lead a design sprint.

Without an answer to the question of Why of change, there is no point in talking to leaders about them changing anything.

I now work again and am using UX design in my job. I even get to talk about it frequently, even though design isn’t my main job - if you don’t know UX design, or service design, exists, you won’t hire someone for it. But it’s a compromise I will gladly take.

Annafanatics is the name of the discord server where a close group of very lovely friends kept Anna going throughout the long hospital days. I wouldn’t be who I am without Anna. I wouldn’t have the skills I am now using every day without the horrible two and a half years in hospital. And I am using the horrible, absolutely awful experience by allowing it to keep motivating me to make things better.

The journey

I am grateful for everyone who has been part of my life so far. Everyone who listened to me talk about my experience online, the lovely group of parents who all have lost children and who welcomed me into their meetings, I don’t want to forget about all the local people I’ve visited in the last few month while trying to figure out what to do for work after this.

Renaming and restarting this substack is the next step. I am trying to channel my own energy in the best possible way, while allowing people to see what happens next.

Substack

I think Substack and Medium are a better way to leave Twitter than Mastodon. Let’s all keep writing and keep following each other.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.