The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake Erie College’s Karako overcomes MS diagnosis
Lake Catholic grad wants strong finish to senior season
Savannah Karako knew something was wrong when she was taking ground balls during a recent practice.
What she saw was a blur — literally — but more important it signified a red flag.
“I kept seeing double, and everything was blurry,” said Karako, a Lake Catholic graduate and senior softball player at Lake Erie College.
Confused and concerned, Karako immediately got checked out March 23. Two days later, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the nervous system and disrupts the flow of information between the brain and body.
“We were shocked,” said Karako’s father Todd.
Fortunately for Karako, timing made all the difference. She underwent an MRI March 28, saw a neurologist March 29, and then began treatment with steroids March 30. She was back to playing with the Storm by April 6.
“We’re grateful, but it was hard at first,” said Todd. “It was a proud moment to see her back at the plate.”
Doctors informed Karako and her family a lesion near the left eye was the problem.
“From my left side, I couldn’t see anything,” she said.
Fortunately, no other part of her body was affected.
“No muscle problems, no spasms,” said Todd. “For now, thank God.”
On April 6, Karako, a second baseman, welcomed back some normalcy to her life by playing for the Storm in their doubleheader against Walsh. She went 3 for 5 with two walks and three RBI.
“Adrenaline was a big factor,” Karako said about her return. “I feel I needed to make a statement, and tried to pick up from right where I left off.”
That shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who has seen Karako play. Ever since her father introduced Karako — and her older sister Elizabeth, who also played at LEC — to the sport at age 8, she has always been a fine hitter.
At Lake Catholic, Karako’s career batting average
was better than .450 before making an immediate impact at LEC, where she batted .368 as a freshman and didn’t strike out the entire season.
As a sophomore, she hit .337, then .415 as a junior. This season, Karako has taken her game to a different level. Despite the MS diagnosis, and missing eight games because of it, she’s hitting .563 (27 for 48) with 11 runs and 14 RBI. Karako, who has 100 RBI in her LEC career, was hitting better than .600, but an April 13 doubleheader in which she was 2 for 7 dropped her below that mark.
LEC is 9-15, and has 12 games remaining. Karako is hopeful the Storm can make a run to the conference tournament.
“I really hope we’re playing instead of making that walk (during commencement),” said Karako, who is graduating this spring with an education degree and will pursue a master’s.
No matter how her senior season plays out, Karako is thrilled and feels fortunate to be playing out her last season of competitive softball on her terms.
“Everything is fine now,” she said. “I feel like I’m 100 percent.”