Today, Emile Beauchamp can safely pass a football to a friend.
Six years ago, however, the same activity almost killed him on a beach in Mexico.
Beauchamp was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four heart defects.
“I just collapsed into the water,” he said. “My friends kind of thought I was playing a joke at first, but after a minute they realized it was serious.”
Beauchamp’s heart suddenly stopped beating.
Nearly 50 minutes of CPR and nine electric shocks saved his life, but he was in a coma for four days.
“It was hard. It was really hard,” Beauchamp said. “I asked myself a lot of existential questions. Why me? What is my purpose?”
Experts estimate one in every 100 babies is born with some kind of congenital heart disease.
Nine in 10 now survive to adulthood thanks to medical progress.
There’s more to be done, however, according to a report released this week by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Many teenagers experience a gap in care when they transition to adulthood said Dr. Francois Pierre Mongeon, a cardiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute.
“It can be challenging for them to learn how to deal with making appointments and getting medication from the drugstore,” he said.
He added that it’s particularly dangerous because these patients are more at risk of developing other heart and brain issues.
Another problem is that specialized clinics with staff most qualified to care for them are usually in big cities, meaning some people have to travel a long way.
However, there are some solutions.
“There are travelling clinics that will go to local hospitals and patients locally,” said Mongeon. “There’s also great potential for telemedicine.”
As for Beauchamp, he says he’s lucky to live in Montreal, where he gets the care he needs without much trouble.
“Not only is health care affordable, it’s everywhere, practically,” he said.
Beauchamp hopes his story will inspire others to push for their dreams and to not let heart disease stop them.
