News Archive
Madga's Story
Mental and physical health have never been separate for me.
I was born in 1960 with a congenital heart condition - Ebstein anomaly. But I didn’t know I was ill. And neither did most people around me.
As a child, I had pain I couldn’t explain. On the swing, for example, I'd feel something “funny.” People would call me a sissy. So I learned to sing instead of scream. That became my way of coping.
My mother taught me two things that shaped my mental health for life:
step by step — and where there is a will, there is a way.
No pity. Just encouragement.
Matylda's CHD Story
We reside in Iceland. At 30 weeks into my pregnancy, I learned that my unborn daughter had pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PA/IVS). I consider myself fortunate that this condition was detected while I was still pregnant. However, this revelation came shortly after we had to evacuate our town because of possible volcanic activity, and just days later, my partner’s mother passed away. We were still grappling with our loss when we received this news, leaving us in a state of complete shock.
This is CHD
Annabel Breeman's CHD Story
What is mental health for you? For me, it depends on when you ask in my life. As a 38 year old CHD I faced many happy and hard situations during my live; mentally and physically. Most situations were mentally good to handle. Only the two most difficult moments of my life, happened after the two happiest moments of my life.