About

Hi, I'm Mac, a junior at Santa Ynez High School and the founder of Strings4Spines.

I've been lucky enough to play varsity tennis all three years of high school, earn the number one spot on the team this year, and compete in the All-League Finals of the Central Section. But honestly, none of that felt like a given a few years ago.

In February 2022, I was swimming in the ocean on the Big Island of Hawaii with my family when I fractured my C5 vertebra. It's one of the most severe spinal injuries a person can get, and many people who suffer this kind of break never walk again. I am one of the lucky ones.

The lifeguards who pulled me from the water, stabilized me on the beach, and got me airlifted to Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Oahu saved my life, and I think about them all the time. I was fitted with a halo traction brace and made the journey home, where my care was transferred to the Orthopedics team at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). In November 2022, I underwent spinal fusion surgery.

Recovery was long, and when it was over, impact sports were off the table. So I picked up a tennis racket. I started playing for Santa Ynez High School in 2023 and fell in love with the game. Around the same time, I learned to string rackets as a way to save money for college. It didn't take long for that to turn into something more.

Strings4Spines has strung over 40 rackets and donated more than $250 to the nurses, doctors, and staff in the Orthopedics and Spinal Center at CHLA, and to the kids there who may not have been as fortunate as I was. I know what it's like to lie in that hospital wondering what comes next. I want those kids to know that something good can.

If you need your racket strung, I hope you'll let me do it. And if you just want to follow along, welcome. This is my story, and it's still being written.