Spring weather brought a trip to Sedona, AZ to gather with my college roommates from San Jose State University. Yes, we are all still hanging in here and enjoy getting together and being outdoors. The spouses even came along and were good sports. Sedona is known for its vortices and is a highly sought after spiritual and metaphysical destination. There are also abundant opportunities to visit National Monuments and go hiking. We did all of these. I was happy to be hiking around at 4,500 ft. elevation and not having any difficulty with my breathing. The Red Rocks are stunning and claimed to offer healing properties from metaphysical crystals. So maybe the rocks and the Airport Mesa Vortex were spiraling with me for this trip. 

A vortex is an area of concentrated energy rising from the earth where one can take time for mind and heart to achieve stillness, balance and harmony. I can’t say that I felt tingling of the skin and vibration from the ground upon encountering a vortex but we were all having fun and getting outdoor exercise amidst the Red Rocks. I also had Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Kalydeco along with me to work with the vortex and crystals.

We also took a day trip to Jerome, AZ an old copper mining town in the Black Hills. It was a ghost town until revitalized with new spirits to attract tourists. Its elevation is 5,200 ft. and I was still going strong walking about with the ghosts and spirits.

Though I firmly believe in outdoor exercise and the benefit of nature to one’s health, I am compliant with CF treatments that are essential to daily living and traveling. Since I was not diagnosed with CF until I was 64 years old, I have years of irreparable lung damage. Once diagnosed, I was pleased to maintain what lung function I had and avoid exacerbations. Now I have the good fortune to be benefitting from Kalydeco (ivacaftor); I feel better than I did ten (10) or more years ago. My lung function has improved somewhat and side effects from the drug are minimal. But I do miss eating grapefruit. So here I am soon to be 69 years old and happy to be spiraling around in the vortex and the old ghost town.

Maybe some vortices were aligned for May is CF Awareness Month to bring new healing power and energy to CF patients. The good news is that Vertex Pharmaceuticals drug combination, ORKAMBI (ivacaftor/lumacaftor) for treatment of CF patients 12 years and over was approved by the FDA Pulmonary-Allergy Drug Advisory Committee on May 12. This drug combo targets the double DeltaF508 mutation which is a common mutation for an estimated 8,500 CF patients. The Committee approval is a significant step to begin addressing the underlying cause(s) of CF.  The Vertex application for approval will now go to the FDA, with an announcement anticipated by July 5th.

With the spirits of Sedona with me I look ahead to 2015 as the year for the vortex of Vertex to “raise up” many more CF patients to “stand on mountains, and walk on stormy seas.”[i]

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Barbara Morris Harison lives in Ventura, CA and serves on the CFLF Board.  She was diagnosed with CF at age sixty four (64). She lost a sister to CF forty-three (43) years ago. She established the Loretta Morris Memorial Fund with CFLF in 2010. Barbara is retired after a long career in public parks and recreation administration and later managed her own consulting business, Harison & Associates for twenty (20) years.