Meet Anna
Anna Kirton is a United Kingdom based hearing loss advocate, registered health coach, and cancer informed wellbeing supporter. Through her practice, Think Health Coaching, she works with individuals navigating hearing loss, cancer, and life after treatment, helping them rebuild confidence, energy, and a sense of control.
A Quiet Strength That Speaks Volumes
There is a certain kind of resilience that does not announce itself loudly. It lives in the everyday decisions to keep going, to keep learning, to keep showing up for others even when life has been unrelenting. Anna Kirton carries that kind of resilience. It is shaped not by a single defining moment, but by a lifetime of adapting, advocating, and finding purpose in places where many would pause.
Her work today sits at the intersection of health, communication, and lived experience. But to understand why she does what she does, it helps to look at the many lives she has already lived.
A Life That Never Followed One Path
Anna’s professional journey did not begin in healthcare. It began visually, behind the lens and in editing rooms, working as a photographer’s assistant and photo editor for a news agency in Hong Kong. It was a fast paced environment, one that demanded attention to detail and a sharp instinct for capturing moments that mattered.
From there, her path shifted again, this time to Rome, where she taught English and learned Italian. The move reflected something that would become a constant in her life, a willingness to step into unfamiliar spaces and grow through them.
Returning to the United Kingdom marked another transition. She began working with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People as a deaf awareness trainer. This role brought her closer to something deeply personal. Anna was born with hearing loss, and for much of her life she had learned to navigate a world that was not always built with her in mind.
In this work, she helped organisations understand how to create more inclusive environments for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It was practical work, but also deeply human. It required empathy, patience, and a steady belief that change was possible when people were willing to listen, and the persistence to keep showing up until they did.
Love, Loss, and the Weight of Care
During this time, life shifted in a way that no one prepares for. Anna’s husband was diagnosed with cancer. What followed was not just a medical journey, but an emotional one that would reshape her understanding of care, strength, and endurance.
She became his caregiver, standing beside him through treatment, uncertainty, and the gradual unfolding of a reality neither of them had chosen. For two years, her world narrowed to the rhythms of hospital visits, treatment plans, and the quiet moments in between.
Losing him was a profound turning point. Grief does not move in straight lines, and for Anna, it created a space where everything familiar felt altered. Yet even within that loss, something began to take shape. Not immediately, and not without struggle, but steadily.
She reflects on that time with a clarity that speaks to both pain and growth. “Caring for my husband on his cancer journey affected me and continues to affect me, strangely in a positive and take action way.”
It is not a statement that diminishes the grief. Instead, it acknowledges how deeply transformative that experience was. It changed how she saw health, how she understood resilience, and how she connected with others facing similar challenges.
Running Toward the Unknown
In the aftermath of loss, Anna made a decision that might seem unexpected from the outside. She went to sea.
Joining the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race was not simply an adventure. It was a way of stepping into something entirely different, something that demanded focus, physical endurance, and trust in oneself. It was also a space where she could process, even if that processing did not come in words.
The journey did not end there. She continued to train, working toward becoming a Yachtmaster Offshore. It was not an easy path. Her hearing loss presented challenges, particularly when it came to medical clearance for commercial sailing work.
She had to advocate for herself once again, firmly and persistently, proving that her capabilities were not defined by her limitations. It required persistence and a refusal to accept barriers without questioning them. In many ways, it echoed the advocacy she had practiced throughout her life, but this time it was intensely personal.
These experiences at sea added another layer to her understanding of resilience. They reinforced the idea that strength often comes from pushing beyond what feels comfortable, and that identity is not fixed but continually evolving.
A New Direction Shaped by Lived Experience
The global pause brought on by the Covid pandemic created space for reflection. Like many people, Anna found herself reassessing what mattered most and where she wanted to direct her energy.
Health coaching emerged as a natural next step. It brought together her interest in nutrition, movement, and wellbeing with her lived experiences of hearing loss and caregiving. It also offered a way to support others in a more holistic and personal way.
She trained as a health coach and began building a practice from the ground up. Starting a business in her fifties came with its own challenges. She had never run a business before, nor had she designed a website or navigated the complexities of building something entirely her own.
Yet she approached it the same way she had approached every major transition in her life, with determination, curiosity, and a refusal to be held back by what she did not yet know.
The Moment That Clarified Everything
Sometimes, clarity arrives in unexpected ways. For Anna, it came during a conversation with an oncologist at a medical conference.
The oncologist mentioned that some cancer patients experience hearing loss as a side effect of certain chemotherapy drugs. It was a detail that might have passed unnoticed in another context, but for Anna, it resonated immediately.
It connected her personal experience of hearing loss with her lived experience of cancer caregiving. It revealed a gap in support that she understood deeply, both emotionally and practically.
That moment planted a seed. It expanded her vision of what her work could be and who she could serve. It brought together the different threads of her life into something more focused and intentional.
Work That Begins With Being Heard
Today, Anna’s work is rooted in a simple but powerful idea. People deserve to feel heard, especially when they are navigating some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
Through Think Health Coaching, she supports individuals living with hearing loss, those undergoing cancer treatment, and those adjusting to life after it. She also works with caregivers, people who often carry immense responsibility while quietly setting aside their own needs.
Her approach is not about quick fixes or rigid plans. It is about meeting people where they are and helping them reconnect with their own sense of agency. She focuses on sustainable, practical changes in nutrition, movement, stress management, and self advocacy, helping people take back control in ways that feel both realistic and lasting.
There is also a strong emphasis on communication. For people with hearing loss, navigating healthcare systems, workplaces, and everyday interactions can be exhausting. Anna understands this not just intellectually, but personally.
She helps her clients build confidence in advocating for their needs, whether that means asking for adjustments, seeking clarity in medical settings, or simply feeling more comfortable in their own voices.
Her work extends beyond individuals. She also supports organisations and professionals in understanding the human impact of hearing loss and the importance of inclusive communication.
What drives her is not recognition or scale, but impact.
“Knowing I am helping people to empower themselves to live the best version of their lives.”
Building Something New, One Step at a Time
Creating a business later in life can feel daunting, particularly in a space that is still evolving. Health coaching is not always fully understood, and combining it with hearing loss advocacy and cancer support adds further complexity.
Anna has approached this challenge with the same mindset that has guided her through other transitions. She focuses on learning, adapting, and staying connected to her purpose.
There have been moments of uncertainty, as there are in any new venture. But she draws strength from her experiences and from the people she supports. Each small success, each client who finds clarity or confidence, reinforces why she chose this path.
Her journey is also a reminder that it is never too late to begin something new. Skills can be learned, systems can be built, and confidence can grow over time.
A Future Rooted in Connection and Advocacy
Looking ahead, Anna’s vision is both clear and expansive. She wants to play a role in changing how hearing loss is perceived and understood.
For many people, hearing loss still carries stigma or is overlooked entirely. It can lead to isolation, misunderstanding, and missed opportunities. Anna wants to challenge that narrative.
Her goal is to bring people together, to create a stronger, more connected community where individuals with hearing loss feel supported and represented. She believes in the power of collective voices, in the idea that change happens more effectively when people come together.
At the same time, she continues to develop her work with individuals affected by cancer. The connection between treatment, side effects, and long term wellbeing is complex, and she sees an opportunity to provide more integrated support.
Her vision is not about rapid expansion or visibility for its own sake. It is about depth, connection, and meaningful change.
The Quiet Work of Becoming
Anna Kirton’s story does not follow a single narrative. It moves through different places, professions, and experiences, each one adding to the person she has become.
There is grief in her story, but also growth. There are challenges, but also a consistent willingness to face them. There is advocacy, not as a role she stepped into, but as something that has always been part of who she is.
What stands out is not just what she has done, but how she has done it. With kindness, warmth, empathy, and determination. With a refusal to accept limitations without questioning them. With a belief that even small steps forward matter.
Her work today reflects all of that. It is grounded in lived experience, shaped by reflection, and driven by a desire to help others find their own strength.
In the end, her journey is not about overcoming a single obstacle or reaching a final destination. It is about continuing to move forward, to keep learning, and to remain open to what comes next.
And perhaps most importantly, it is about ensuring that in a world where many people feel unheard, there is at least one space where they truly are.
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