It begins with a wheez and ends with a smile. This is how surfing finds children and young people with cystic fibrosis in Southern California on a gray summer's afternoon. If you're questioning the link between surfing and cystic fibrosis, the answer's in the salt.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, people with the disease produce a thick mucus that can be trapped in the lungs and cause infections as well as obstruct the body from producing certain enzymes that break down food. There are an estimated 30,000 children in the United States suffering from the disease. But there's good news--surfing has been proven to help mitigate the symptoms.

According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006, an Australian team of doctors found that surfing may hold the key where other medicines have failed. Studies indicate that when the saline mixture (salt water) is inhaled, the effects oft he disease can be dramatically cut. "Surfers with cystic fibrosis had fewer lung exacerbations,"said Dr. Scott Donaldson of UNC Chapel Hill in an interview with CNN.

On an overcast afternoon in Monarch Bay, we find our intrepid cast of Hawaiian surfers in partnership with the Mauli Ola Foundation (a nonprofit organization dedicated to help people with cystic fibrosis) introducing people with the disease to surfing and a healthier life. According to the Mauli Ola foundation's mission statement, "One of the Foundation's programs is Surf Experience Days, which pairs professional surf instructors and novice surf students who have cystic fibrosis to introduce them to the healing properties of exercise, ocean air, achievement, and fun in a supportive environment."

The surfers on hand at Monarch Bay to help out with the Mauli Ola foundation included the likes of Kala Alexander, Makua Rothman, BJ Penn and others.

"It's great to get out here and help introduce surfing to people with cystic fibrosis," said Makua Rothman. "I had really bad asthma as a kid, and through the ocean, I've been able to do a lot more than a lot of people thought I could. It feels really good to be helping out here today.