Stuart Heath Anderson

Stuart Heath Anderson had heart.

Excitable, inclusive, passionate, unpredictable, dutiful, wounded, theatrical, forgetful, loyal, impulsive, courageous, with an irreverent humor and a soft spot for helping people in need.

Born March 18, 1982 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Heath was the second son of Carroll Simms Anderson and Marion Isserman Anderson. At four months old, two severe heart defects threatened his survival. After open heart surgery, his cardiologists cautioned his parents that Heath's fragile system would need to be safeguarded. Yet Heath grew up slowly strengthening his body.

As an adolescent, Heath enjoyed many activities: Comics, Dungeons and Dragons, working as a lifeguard, playing video games and HeroQuest; acting and writing, and learning about history. He loved Alexander the Great, Norse Mythology & the Roman Empire. As an adult, Heath attempted to overcome past traumas by assisting people worse off than he. He made friends with the homeless; he greatly looked up to his grandfather; he asked probing, often uncomfortable questions. He was a renaissance man of sorts, working as a bartender, a bouncer, a massage therapist, an actor on the show Six, a student at UNCW's film school, a playwright and director, and more. He loved connecting with others and bringing people together. He saw when others were in pain and wanted to help.

But more than all these passions, he was proudest to have achieved his childhood goal of joining the military and serving his country. By age 30, he underwent basic training as an infantryman at Fort Benning, Georgia in 2012. Joining an infantry unit in the North Carolina National Guard, his greatest days were spent helping hurricane relief victims and as a border security guard to help immigrants. Finally, Heath achieved what he yearned most for: overseas deployment. By May 2020, he fought ISIS. But like many of his battle buddies, he suffered many lifelong injuries there from his training, and he was heartbroken over the American abandonment of our Kurdish allies. Heath returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina with a spinal injury and was honorably discharged from the Army in 2022. For his service, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

Though he was in pain, he didn't want to stop helping others. In October 2022, he volunteered to help train the army in Ukraine. Instead, Ukrainian leadership put him and other International Legion volunteers in the trenches in places like Bakhmut. Heath spent the next six cold months on the front line, repelling as many as 10 Russian mass attacks per day.

Of Heath's original 35-man unit, he was one of only 7 survivors by April 2023. Had he not been admitted to a Ukrainian hospital, he would have died. As it was, they dug shrapnel out of his scalp, cured him of severe dysentery and supplied him with medicine to allow him to sleep and heal. Once out of that hospital, he took it upon himself to provide food and transportation to stranded women and children, allowing them to escape to Poland. He saved many in this manner.

Once back in the states, Heath suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and needed much assistance from the doctors, spinal experts and psychiatrists. In lieu of the inadequate support from the VA he desperately needed, he bore most of the costs for medical treatment himself.

Heath died on January 28, 2025 in Garner, North Carolina. His last days were filled with the consuming desire to help the Ukrainian people, look out for immigrants, and care for his fellow veterans. He was a noble man, a brother and a son, a great warrior and a compassionate friend to many, a brave heart.

He is survived by his parents, above mentioned, older brother Ross (Stephanie) Anderson, younger sister Marta (David) Rudden and their two children, Ellen and Brianna Rudden.

A celebration of life will be held at Congregation Sha'arei Shalom in Cary on Sunday, February 9th at 3:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donate to United24 or Wounded Warrior Project in memory of Heath.