Mia Anderson

Mia Melyssa Anderson left this earth too soon at 23 years old on November 22, 2020 due to severe asthma complications at Billings Clinic Hospital in Billings, MT with her mom and dad by her side. Mia was born on November 26, 1996 in Breckenridge Minnesota to proud parents Cody Anderson and Rachel (Keil) Anderson. Mia graduated from Billings West High School in 2015. Although school came easy to her, she was easily bored with it, and had better things to do than worry about missing assignments. She was active in theater and speech and debate. She continued her love for theater into adulthood. She lived for the stage – she loved acting, writing, and directing plays with Backyard Theater. She was a natural performer and had recently taken up writing songs and singing with her partner in life, Ryan. Mia loved animals (except fish, which she learned terrified her on a snorkeling excursion). She was known to bring home dogs she found running around town and sneak a new cat into the house on more than one occasion. Her pride and joy were her cats, Soup and Oliver. Mia loved books from the time she was born and always had a book or two with her everywhere she went. Her favorite was “The Book Thief”. Mia loved all kinds of music. She loved going on road trips to go to concerts. She loved NYC, Broadway, and everything chocolate. She loved tattoos so much she was in the process of getting one in honor of every member of her family. Mia was a free spirit, little concerned with things she considered trivial. She had an agile mind, a quick wit, and talked fast with fluent sarcasm. She had a mind of her own, and everyone knew it. She was never afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believed. She could be a terrible driver, prone to parking haphazardly, three feet from the curb – she simply had more important things on her mind. From the time she was young to the day she went to heaven, Mia was a fierce defender, protector, and champion for people who were bullied or persecuted and those she loved. She terrified her sister by convincing her there were sharks in swimming pools, but if anyone else messed with her - watch out! At the age of 15, she made the decision to be an organ donor. In true Mia fashion, she saved the lives of three people and restored vision to two people through organ donation, which would make her incredibly happy. Mia was preceded in death by her beloved Grandpa, Bob Anderson. The two of them are causing mischief in heaven together. She is survived by her parents Cody Anderson and Rachel Anderson, sisters Makayla Anderson and Cambrie Anderson, and brother Garett Anderson; grandparents Bruce and Barb Keil, and Bernie Anderson and Jim Hanson; cousins Cameron and Daniel Welty, and Kyler and Kaisley Kassner; aunts and uncles Amy and Brett Welty, Holly and Jami Kassner, Tyson Anderson, and Seth Keil; boyfriend Ryan Supola, and numerous friends she adored. The family will be having a celebration of Mia's life at a later date to be determined. Asthma is a disease many people think of as not that big of a deal. Mia was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma in 6th grade. In those days, it was only an issue when she played sports. It gradually worsened until the day she could not breathe which caused her heart to stop. On that day, asthma became an unimaginable very big deal. Mia's family would like to do everything in their power to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families. In Mia's honor, donations can be made to the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University. We would like to express our gratitude to the ICU staff at Billings Clinic for their amazing compassionate care, and the team from Lifecenter Northwest who worked tirelessly to help Mia save lives. The best way to describe Mia is to combine the words of those who love her. So in the words of her friends and family - Mia is a unique, wise, talented, sassy, vibrant, smart, funny, stubborn, generous, fiercely determined force of nature with a gift for song and storytelling, an infectious laugh, a wonderful passion, a kind soul and a fiery spirit, who radiates love and acceptance, who is too good for this world and makes us better people. She was here and she was loud and we can still hear her laugh. She is one of a kind.