How surfing can help those with cystic fibrosis

Surfing exposes cystic fibrosis patients to ocean salt water, something that doctors in Australia originally discovered and which led to the development of hypertonic saline treatment.

For some, surfing is a way of life. For a few suffering from cystic fibrosis, it is a way for life. One family of seven illustrates how.

Rob and Paulette Monelone have five children, three of which suffer from cystic fibrosis, or CF, a degenerative genetic disease that involves thick, viscous secretions in primarily the lungs but also in the pancreas, liver, and intestine. There is no cure for CF, and the lifespan typically does not extend beyond about 40 years. Many CF patients die in their teens. Approximately 70,000 people worldwide suffer from CF.

The three Monelone children with CF, or the “CF-ers,” as the family affectionately calls them, have joined a growing number of CF patients who surf as a means of loosening the thick mucus that collects in their lungs. As Australian doctors first noted about ten years ago, the salty sea water that surfing exposes one to helps lubricate airways and facilitates the expulsion of the congestion.

“We have found the silver lining to it all and that has been through surfing,” Paulette Montelone said recently while at San Onofre State Beach in Southern California with her children. “It’s helping them breathe better… but it’s also helping us, as a family, enjoy something together.”

Several organizations oriented toward supporting and promoting surfing among CF sufferers have formed, including the Mauli Ola Foundation. “Mauli Ola” is Hawaiian for “breath of life.” The Foundation links patients with professional surfers, including Sunny Garcia and Kelly Slater.

“They’re spitting up their mucous. I mean I’m out there going, ‘hey cough it up man. No shame,'” said Josh Baxter, a world champion who volunteers for Mauli Ola and often surfs with the Montelone children.

The Monelones travel from their home in Yorba Linda, California, to the beach weekly in the summer and often camps at San Onofre for days at a time.

“I still fear that, like, I’m gonna die or my brother and sister might,” Michael, the oldest of the CF-ers said. “I know that could happen but I try and put it in the back of my head so that I can keep moving through all the days.”