Help Anneliese defend her adaptive CrossFit Games title!

I've officially qualified for the 2025 Adaptive CrossFit Games, and I'm excited to compete in Las Vegas to defend my title as champion of the female Seated Quad division! Last year, I not only won my division, I earned the nickname "Smiley" for the joy I brought to the competition floor, and I plan to bring that same energy again this year. But first, I need your help to get there.

In 2022, my life changed overnight when a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré Syndrome left me paralyzed. What started as numb feet progressed, paralyzing my legs, then my arms, and eventually taking my ability to swallow and breathe independently. Within days, I went from running down soccer fields and doing CrossFit workouts to lying in an ICU, unable to move or talk but fully awake and aware. While I felt like I had lost who I was, in that room, I made a promise to myself that I would do everything I could to fight for my dreams: on the hardest nights, I would envision myself graduating medical school, skydiving, and winning the CrossFit Games. I knew I couldn’t change what was happening to my body physically, but I had the choice of how I approached each day, even when things felt impossible.

The doctors told me to drop all my classes, but instead, I listened to lectures from the hospital and as I grew stronger, dictated answers to homework questions. Instead of deferring my dream internship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I interviewed from the ICU, propped up by pillows. And when it came time for physical therapy, my determination didn’t stop. There were days when I would throw up from the exertion of simply holding my head up; my PTs would suggest we stop for the day, but I refused to quit, using all my strength to quietly whisper, "I want to try again."

As I have navigated my recovery, those words, "I want to try again," have become second nature, as I push myself again and again to do what doctors once said was impossible. With the help of my CrossFit coaches and community, I now get to compete for what my younger self could only dream of: winning the adaptive CrossFit Games for a second time. When training gets hard, I think back to the girl in the ICU who would do anything just to move her body… and I keep going. I juggle being a student, attending medical appointments, and working part-time with my busy training schedule, but I always try to show up with the same grit, tenacity, and joy that I learned in the early days of my diagnosis.

While I have put in the work to make it this far, the financial costs of competing still stand between me and the Games. Between competition fees, hotel and travel expenses, among other costs, competing on my student income is unaffordable without help. However, just as my diagnosis has taught me the power of showing up with tenacity and joy, it has also shown me the power of community, and I believe that with help from my community, I can raise enough money to alleviate the financial stress of competing and make it possible for me to defend my title!