‘I’m so grateful to be here’
Student Maddy Wilford was so badly injured, first responders thought she was dead
When Lt. Laz Ojeda of the Coral Springs Fire Department reached Maddy Wilford at Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, he thought she was dead. Her body looked pale and she wasn’t moving, he recounted Monday.
Maddy had been shot three times and was barely alive. One bullet pierced her chest, another her torso and the third traveled through her right arm.
On Monday morning, Maddy’s arm was heavily bandaged, but her cheeks were rosy and she smiled. Maddy was flanked by her parents, two doctors who treated her and Ojeda at an hourlong news conference.
“I’m Madeline Wilford,” she said, and then paused for about 15 seconds. “And I’d just like to say that I’m so grateful to be here.”
As Ojeda stood over Maddy on Feb. 14, another officer shook her to see if she would respond. She moved.
They put a seal over her chest wound. She was in shock; her blood pressure was low. They gave her fluids intravenously and oxygen.
They were told to take her to Broward Health Medical Center, 30 miles away in Fort Lauderdale.
“I looked at her and gave her a sternal rub, no response,” Ojeda said, rubbing his hand over the middle of his chest to show what he did. He gave her a second sternal rub, and she responded, told him she was 17.
“At that point I looked at Will, and go ‘Will, we’re going to North Broward!” They took her to Broward Health North Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, about 10 miles away.
Maddy’s recovery after three surgeries, according the doctors, is remarkable. They expect her to make a full recovery and go back to school next week.
She sustained some ligament damage to her right hand — the one she uses for writing and shooting basketballs as a member of the basketball team.
She will undergo rehabilitation on her hand but is expected to be able to eventually regain full motion in her hand.
She was discharged Wednesday, only seven days after arriving at the hospital in critical condition. The family was escorted back to Parkland, with four officers on motorcycle, and three Chevy Tahoes behind them, and traffic was briefly halted on the Sawgrass Expressway.
The doctors who treated Maddy said her age is playing a role in her recovery.
“Young people have a tendency to heal very fast,” said Dr. Evan Boyar, but: “She is very, very lucky.” High-velocity bullets can cause extensive tissue damage, even leave organs beyond repair, he said.
Maddy’s mother, Missy Wilford, thanked the hospital staff and the first responders, and then she looked in the eyes of her daughter.
“I could probably spend an hour talking about my daughter … she’s a fighter,” Wilford said. She then had a message for other students at Stoneman Douglas.
“As a mom, I just have to say to you, do not be afraid if you need help,” she said.
Three days after the shooting, President Donald J. Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited Wilford in her hospital room. Despite the surgeries and pain, she managed a smile as photographers snapped pictures of them.