Megan Parker Artist

One of the things I’d dreamed about doing for years but never could was the most basic bitch activity: hiking to the top of a mountain and flashing the trees below; as well as potentially other hikers, trail cams, and any other unintended viewers.

I sat on my bed, couch, and hospital bed for years watching all my friends and acquaintances post their triumphant photos of empowerment; and yes it may be trendy but it’s also a very meaningful testament to your body's power and the power over your body. For the first 28 years of my life I was living trapped in a body that didn’t match my personality. Never being able to truly experience the world in the wild way my heart craved and forever carefully managing the balancing act of pushing my limits without breaking my body in the process. The mental anguish that followed from pushing my body too far and wondering how worth it that adventure actually was, ultimately leads to simply surviving rather than thriving. And it’s not to say I didn’t struggle my way through other trails or let my wild heart take the wheel every now and then, but I look back on those times with a sad fondness rather than pride for physically overcoming my limitations because whether it was on a trail or on the couch it felt the same to me.

“When I started Trikafta I was an anxious mess of desperate hope and fear that this gene modifying drug wouldn’t deliver on all the incredible results it claimed to. Clinging to hope for so many years becomes harder and harder to hold on to while you lose friends to the same disease or experience constant pain, procedures and treatments; but like a true miracle, the positive effects were nearly instantaneous. 

Nearly overnight I had an entirely new body, one that didn’t get tired or need hours or treatments everyday and the mental and physical energy that came from that had me craving adventure. I waited 5 months for the trails to melt enough to hike before I set out with my then husband and our two dogs to climb the Sulphur Skyline Trail. My goal was simple for this trip to the mountains: climb to the top and take a moment to simply breathe with my newly genetically modified lungs and do so without my shirt.“

“We did not make it to the top but we got close. At nearly 0.5 km from the peak we made the safe decision to turn back but this time it wasn’t because my body couldn’t physically make it, it was simply that the 8ft+ snow that hadn’t fully melted yet proved to be a bit much for my little dachshund to keep climbing. Even though we didn’t make it all the way, it was impressive to me that I could finally out-hike my wiener dog but more importantly that I didn’t cough up blood this time and I didn’t have any lung burning or severe fatigue that would require days of recovery from - I was just a “normie” with normal people shin splints and quads that were on fire. I took my “triumphant photo of empowerment” and breathed deeper than I had in years (without fear of immediately coughing) and I nearly cried at how truly free I finally felt and knowing deep down this was only going to be the beginning.

This hike wasn’t really about me overcoming physical limitations to still enjoy life, it was more an emotionally healing adventure that provided a gift to my former self who never could and to my fallen friends who never would. A basic trendy mountain photo to demonstrate that I finally made it and that I wouldn’t take this miracle for granted."