Doctors diagnose the disease using an ultrasound during pregnancy or during a physical examination at birth if the baby shows symptoms of an abnormal heartbeat, such as blue skin, rapid breathing, weight loss, or poor feeding.
According to the Canadian Congenital Heart Association (CCHA), approximately one in 100 Canadian children are born with some type of CHD. Approximately 260,000 Canadians have CHD, or two-thirds of adults. There are approximately 40 types of CHD, ranging from mild to moderately complex to severely complex.
The cause is often unknown but may include:
- If the fetus is exposed to maternal diseases such as fever, diabetes, or rubella
- Smoking, drinking, or taking drugs during pregnancy
- exposure to air pollution or pesticides
- Hereditary genetic defects and chromosomal abnormalities
Mulder, now 41, was diagnosed with high-complexity. First of all, she has no pulmonary artery, which carries her deoxygenated blood from her heart to her lungs.
“Instead, there’s a hole between the lower ventricles, so there’s always blood mixed in,” says Mulder, who receives oxygen most of the time.
In March 2002, when she was 19 and a freshman in college, doctors implanted a cardioversion defibrillator in her chest. Over the years, she has had five such defibrillators. In 2016, she was evaluated for a possible double heart lung transplant, which she declined. “I felt like it wasn’t in my best interest to have the quality of life I wanted,” she says.