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A student basketball player at the Florida high school where this week’s deadly shooting occurred is “fighting for her life,” loved ones said on social media.
Maddy Wilford, a junior at Stoneman Douglas Douglas High School in Parkland, was shot multiple times when alleged crazed gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle, killing 17 people.
In an emotional Facebook post, the teen’s mother, Missy Cantrell Wilford, said it is already a miracle that her daughter survived.
“The surgeons didn’t know how many [times she was shot] exactly,” Wilford wrote in the post, which was embedded on a GoFundMe page set up by a family friend. “As the surgeons said, it only takes one.”
One of the bullets traveled though Maddy’s back — crushing her ribs, piercing her right lung and exiting through her stomach, Wilford wrote. Several others went through her shoulder and traveled the length of her right arm before exiting. Her liver, reproductive organs and heart were miraculously not affected.
The teen underwent surgery Thursday to “put in titanium plates to hold the ribs together,” her mother wrote.
Still, “the doctors seem positive that Madeleine is young and strong and will recover over time,” she said.
In a Thursday morning Facebook post, Marilyn Rule, Maddy’s basketball coach, shared an urgent plea for prayers, accompanied by a photo of the teen in her team uniform.
“One of my basketball players is fighting for her life!” Rule wrote on Thursday. “Please pray for Maddy Wilford….We Love You Maddy.”
Teammate Emily Cashion, a sophomore at the school, told the Sun-Sentinel during a vigil Thursday evening that the team was not paying any attention to its postponed regional quarterfinal.
“We’re not thinking about anything else — just making sure [Maddy’s] OK, ” Cashion told the paper.
“She’s funny. She gets along with everyone,” she added. “She keeps everyone up when we’re having bad day or not having a good game.”
The GoFundMe page, created on the day of the shooting, raised more than $33,000 of its $50,000 goal by Friday afternoon.
