
Emily's Story
Name: Emily Sterling
Age: 24
Age when diagnosed: 6 weeks old
Condition: Bicuspid aortic valve, mixed aortic valve disease (aortic stenosis and regurgitation)
In February 2015 (just after my 20th birthday) I had open heart surgery…

Liza's Story
Name: Liza Morton
Age: 41
Age Diagnosed: At birth
Condition: Congenital heart block and a surgically fixed atrial septal defect (ASD)
Growing up, I tried to focus on the positives but we are our stories and mine emerged from difficulty.…

David's Story
Name: David Makinson
Age: 54, born May 1964
Age Diagnosed: Soon after birth at The Middlesex Hospital, London – the child of a single mother who wished to put me up for adoption.
How has CHD affected your mental health?
In a nutshell,…

Adam's Story
Name: Adam Stevens
Age: 39
Age when diagnosed: 2 weeks (originally suspected ToF)
Condition: Transposition of the great arteries.
How has having a heart condition impacted on your mental health?
It’s given a schema of life that…

Susan's Story
Name: Susan Manley nee Millard
Age: 66
Age when diagnosed: Before 1 year old
Condition: Three holes in the heart and faulty Tricuspid valve
How has having a heart condition impacted on your mental health?
We were the experimental…

Roderick's Story
Name: Roderick Skinner
Age: 77
Age when diagnosed: 44
Condition: Triple bypass and replacement of defective (congenital) aortic valve with a mechanical
heart valve.
How has having a heart condition impacted on your mental health?
The…

Izzy's Story
Read an Extract from Izzy's original post... My Open Heart.
I started to walk faster, legs shaking, and sheer panic overtook my entire body. As fast as my shaking legs could take me, I stumbled down the escalator of Oxford Circus station, attempting…