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.
Living with CHD taught me early on that an invisible illness can be just as heavy as a visible one. I didn’t want to be seen as “the handicapped person.” I wanted to be judged for who I am — not what my heart can’t do.
That meant being strong. Sometimes too strong. Carrying pain quietly. Learning to accept that I might do things just as well as others — only slower.
Living with CHD means constantly finding balance. Singing instead of screaming. Focusing on what is possible.
At 65, my journey is still ongoing.
But so is my strength.
- Magda (UK)
