One of the victims of the Wednesday shooting spree at a Florida high school has Marietta ties, and the community is rallying to her aid.
An online fundraiser has netted nearly $18,000 for Maddy Wilford.
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"I have to thank my Lord and Savior for sparring my daughter's life today," her mother, Marietta High School graduate Missy Cantrell Wilford, who now lives in Parkland, Fla., posted in response to all the support. "I feel Blessed beyond words, knowing that many didn’t survive."
She said her daughter was shot multiple times with an AR-15 and has been through two surgeries. It's a miracle she's alive, doctors have told her.
"She had one (bullet) that went through her back, crushing her ribs, piercing through her right lung and exiting through her stomach. Several went through the shoulder and traveled the length of her right arm before exiting," Wilford wrote. "She lost so much blood, but she is stable and in ICU. She will undergo a third surgery tomorrow to put in permanent titanium plates to hold her ribs together. Even after all of that, the bullets missed her liver, reproduction organs, heart, she could have been paralyzed. It is a miracle."
The Marietta Police Department has held multiple "active shooting" training sessions at Marietta High School in recent years, in response to the growing number of shootings nationwide. The school was located at the site of what is now Marietta Middle School when Wilford was a student.
Doctors are hopeful, and Wilford requests prayers for all affected.
"Please keep the prayers coming for all the families, especially for one of the youth from church that still hasn’t been found as of yet. Her name is Alaina. The doctors seem positive that Madeleine is young and strong and will recover over time. She is on a ventilator since she has one lung and the ribs are crushing the other. God give me strength that I do not possess on my own."
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