This will be a big loss for the Bluebirds this season. They will still be a force in the 9th region. Hope she can make a full recovery 

below is a link to a Facebook Post about Saylor Macke not playing this season due to multiple concussions   

https://www.facebook.com/share/18zmYKJNNV/?mibextid=K35XfP

 

Horrible, but you have to protect your brain. 

Definitely a huge blow to Highlands, but you said it Guru, can't brush off head/brain injuries. Hope to see a quick, full recovery for Ms. Macke.

She is no longer enrolled in Highlands. Wonder where her next stop is? Good luck to this young lady. Brain Trauma is nothing to mess with.

What school is she now attending and will she be playing this year?

Can someone elaborate on what is happening with this player?  If hurt then hurt, but why leave school?

Cognitive ability was so impaired secondary to multiple severe concussions that she was unable to keep pace with a very heavy AP load.  At this point, whether she ever plays basketball again or not isn't even what we are debating.  She went from 4.8 GPA and straight As to being unable to read or concentrate without debilitating dizziness and migraines after just a few minutes.  We are hoping that the battery of doctors who are treating her are correct and that the temporary rest, removal of stress and intense therapy she undergoes will allow her to regain her full cognitive function.  If that is the case, whether she plays any contact sport again will be seriously debated, because the likelihood of more serious and irreversible injury increases dramatically with recurring concussions.   This is probably more detail than anyone wanted, but it is heartbreaking - although we've been very lucky and in the big scheme of things the end of basketball is a minor concern if she can otherwise recover - because she and her Highlands team ended the season last year going in the right direction, looking like the favorite to win a regional after beating Notre Dame and pushing Ryle in the regional.  She began having symptoms early in the year, and played through it as long as she could until the middle of the summer season, when she'd gotten to the big stage and was playing well with the 17U INDY GYM RATS EYBL, but vision and optical damage caused such bad dizziness and headaches that she could not continue.  I have known disappointment on the basketball court many times, but I don't think I've ever felt as at a loss and powerless as I did when, in the middle of 17U EYBL tournament games, when she is playing well in front of dozens of college coaches, she is reduced to tears with her head in her hands on the bench trying to find some kind of relief for an intense migraine.  Whether she plays basketball becomes a non-consideration at that point.

  She started the academic year at Highlands and, to the Ft. Thomas Independent Schools' credit, they attempted to provide every accommodation to allow her to continue her rigorous schedule, but when she was brought to tears by the intensity of a migraine after just a few minutes of reading and concentrating, we felt it was medically necessary to remove, temporarily we hope, the stressors aggravating the physical problems.  So we will see.  We hope her Highlands teammates have the success that last year foretold, and she would love to be contributing, but sometimes physical limitations and frailties that you never could have foreseen frustrate the best laid plans.     

41 minutes ago, Pete Mitchell said:

Cognitive ability was so impaired secondary to multiple severe concussions that she was unable to keep pace with a very heavy AP load.  At this point, whether she ever plays basketball again or not isn't even what we are debating.  She went from 4.8 GPA and straight As to being unable to read or concentrate without debilitating dizziness and migraines after just a few minutes.  We are hoping that the battery of doctors who are treating her are correct and that the temporary rest, removal of stress and intense therapy she undergoes will allow her to regain her full cognitive function.  If that is the case, whether she plays any contact sport again will be seriously debated, because the likelihood of more serious and irreversible injury increases dramatically with recurring concussions.   This is probably more detail than anyone wanted, but it is heartbreaking - although we've been very lucky and in the big scheme of things the end of basketball is a minor concern if she can otherwise recover - because she and her Highlands team ended the season last year going in the right direction, looking like the favorite to win a regional after beating Notre Dame and pushing Ryle in the regional.  She began having symptoms early in the year, and played through it as long as she could until the middle of the summer season, when she'd gotten to the big stage and was playing well with the 17U INDY GYM RATS EYBL, but vision and optical damage caused such bad dizziness and headaches that she could not continue.  I have known disappointment on the basketball court many times, but I don't think I've ever felt as at a loss and powerless as I did when, in the middle of 17U EYBL tournament games, when she is playing well in front of dozens of college coaches, she is reduced to tears with her head in her hands on the bench trying to find some kind of relief for an intense migraine.  Whether she plays basketball becomes a non-consideration at that point.

  She started the academic year at Highlands and, to the Ft. Thomas Independent Schools' credit, they attempted to provide every accommodation to allow her to continue her rigorous schedule, but when she was brought to tears by the intensity of a migraine after just a few minutes of reading and concentrating, we felt it was medically necessary to remove, temporarily we hope, the stressors aggravating the physical problems.  So we will see.  We hope her Highlands teammates have the success that last year foretold, and she would love to be contributing, but sometimes physical limitations and frailties that you never could have foreseen frustrate the best laid plans.     

Hate to hear that about any young athlete and wish her nothing but the best.  If you don’t mind, please keep us posted as time passes and let us know how things are progressing.