MOF Santa Cruz Surf Day Boosts Morale...
Description
Mauli Ola Foundation's first Surf Experience Day of 2009 took place on May 16th on picturesque Cowell's Beach in Santa Cruz, California with Flexfit, Ambry Genetics and The Richard Schmidt Surf School all on hand as sponsors of the event. It was a sunny 80 degree day as children and young adults with Cystic Fibrosis took free surf lessons while being mentored by pro surfers Tyler Smith, Tyler Fox, Randy Bonds and Shawn Barny Barron. Young people with Cystic Fibrosis enjoyed a much needed day of sun, surfing and a healthy dose of therapeutic sea air, as their ecstatic parents looked on.
Kurtis Glade, the father of Malin and Ellie, brought a five man video production crew to document his daughters enjoying all of the surfing action, and even conducted interviews to document the experience. Malin and Ellie benefited greatly, and Glade is considering trips to two more Surf Experience Days in Newport Beach, California and in Haleiwa, Hawaii. The Stenzel twins, both lung transplant recipients, also attended the Santa Cruz event. The last time Ana Stenzel was on Cowell's Beach it was in a wheelchair with an oxygen mask. Now, with the help of Mauli Ola Foundation and a lung transplant, she was in the ocean for her very first surf!
To stand on a surfboard for the first time is quite an accomplishment for many of these individuals who never even thought they could try something as strenuous as surfing, says Brissa Martin, Genetic Counselor for Ambry Genetics. It's great to see them enjoy themselves in a truly non-clinical environment.