Author(s): Justy Phillips

Tasmaniana | Tasmanian Fiction

1. We are all born with a hole in our hearts.

In the womb of our mothers, before we are breathing air, this hole acts as a kind of trapdoor that allows blood to bypass the lungs. In most cases this trapdoor closes itself during the first few days after birth. In rare cases, its hole remains open. This hole, you might come to know, as an ‘organism that persons’. A seam that grows-with. This is what happened to me. Medically, a hole in the heart or ‘patent foramen ovale’ can present in either the upper (atrial) or lower (ventricular) chambers of the heart, causing what is known as atrial and ventricular septal defects. These congenital heart ‘defects’ or rupturing malformations, enable blood to travel abnormally between the chambers of the heart. This diversion allows...