(CNN) As they sped away from the shooting scene at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the first responder was skeptical. 
 
 Lt. Laz Ojeda of the Coral Springs Fire Department had been told that his patient, Maddy Wilford, was 15 years old. She had been shot at least three times in the February 14 mass shooting, and she'd lost so much blood first responders initially feared she was dead. 
 
 But Ojeda thought she was older than 15 and roused her to make sure. Conscious for a second, she whispered she was 17. 
 
 That made all the difference. 
 
 Instead of taking her to a hospital with a children's facility some 30 miles away as he had been instructed to do, Ojeda made the decision to take Maddy to a hospital just 10 miles from the high school. The gutsy, split-second call probably saved her life. 
 
 Read More ||||| (CNN) Maddy Wilford, a junior at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, teared up before speaking Monday at Broward Health North, the hospital where she was taken after being shot at least three times on February 14. 
 
 "I'd just like to say that I'm so grateful to be here, and it wouldn't be possible without those officers and first responders and these amazing doctors," said Wilford, who underwent several surgeries at the hospital and was released Wednesday. 
 
 With her long brown hair swept back from her face and wearing a team jacket and a cast on her left arm, Wilford noted "all the love that's been passed around" and added, "I definitely wouldn't be here without it. I'm glad I'm making a full recovery, and everything's going so smoothly." 
 
 At Monday's news conference, the first responders and doctors at Broward North also recalled the Valentine's Day shooting. 
 
 'We were almost dumbfounded' 
 
 Lt. Laz Ojeda of Coral Springs Fire Department was one of the team of first responders who transported Wilford from the school to the hospital. 
 
 "That day started like any other day," Ojeda said. "When the call came in, we were almost dumbfounded. We couldn't believe it." 
 
 They weren't dispatched right away, so their captain took the initiative and sent Ojeda's crew to the scene. There, he found the "organized chaos" in which he is accustomed to working. 
 
 When Wilford was brought to them, Ojeda said, they thought she was dead. 
 
 "She looked very pale," he said. After another officer shook her, "I believe she gasped, or she moved. She made signs of life." 
 
 The emergency meant the team was operating under a specific set of transportation rules, so he was supposed to take her to Broward General, 30 miles from the school. Broward North, though, was just 10 minutes away. 
 
 "I looked at her, I gave her a sternal rub, and I said, 'Hey, how old are you?' " Wilford showed no response. He asked a second time, and she whispered that she was 17. 
 
 "We're going to North Broward," Ojeda redirected the crew. There, "I've never seen so many doctors, so many staff in the emergency room." 
 
 Emotion was evident in his face and his voice as he explained: "We transferred her to a gurney, gave a report to the nurse, and we went back to work." 
 
 At the hospital: 'We were ready' 
 
 Dr. Evan Boyar, medical director of emergency services at Broward Health North, recalled the moment when Wilford arrived at his hospital: "It was a seamless process. Six months ago, we had an active shooter drill, to gear up for events like this. We were ready." 
 
 Having called a "code green" -- a mass-casualty event -- Boyar knew that the trauma center would receive multiple patients at once. Still, the entire hospital was prepared to treat all patients "equally and swiftly." 
 
 Wilford came under the care of Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, medical director of trauma services at the hospital. When she arrived, she was "pale and not responsive. She was in shock," he said. He had little information but could see that she had "multiple gunshot wounds" to her chest, abdomen and upper sternum. 
 
 "Wounds in the chest were very severe, with massive bleeding," Nichiporenko said. Emergency staff gave her blood, and when they found fluid in her abdomen, she was taken to the operating room within 10 minutes. 
 
 Nichiporenko had to perform "damage control," amounting to extricating bullets and repairing damage, first in Wilford's abdomen and then her chest and in the right upper extremity, where tendons had been "shattered from gunshot wounds." 
 
 "Because we are a trauma center, we see these type of injuries almost every other day," he said of her bullet wounds. However, most gunshot injuries he sees are from small-caliber bullets, yet Wilford's injuries were caused by large caliber. 
 
 "There's a blast injury associated with larger caliber," he explained. "When the bullet travels through soft tissue, it creates shock waves," and this causes more tissue damage than smaller-caliber bullets do. 
 
 "She still has fragments inside," Nichiporenko said, yet "her chest and abdomen are completely healed." Her "right upper extremity needs four to six weeks to heal" due to tendon damage, and after that, she will require occupational therapy. Still, he expects a full recovery for the young basketball player. 
 
 Asked whether Ojeda's call to take her to Broward North instead of the more distant hospital saved Wilford's life, Nichiporenko said, simply, "yes, of course." 
 
 "Her hospital stay was less than seven days," Nichiporenko said. "Young people have a tendency to heal very fast. She's very, very lucky." 
 
 Her parents echoed that thought and expressed their gratitude to the first responders and hospital staff. 
 
 A 'very grateful' family 
 
 Maddy's father, David Wilford, said, "I am very grateful to be sitting here next to my daughter, who is alive and well today. 
 
 "There's a lot of people to thank for Maddy's life," he said, adding that he has "a lot of sympathy and empathy for her classmates" and for the parents of the children who didn't make it. 
 
 Missy Wilford, Maddy's mother, said, "I too am very grateful to be sitting here today. ... My heart is full of gratitude." 
 
 She described her daughter as "a fighter" who wants to heal. 
 
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 "Yes, it is a tragedy, but I would like to find a way to find a positive in what has happened here in our community," said Missy Wilford, who recognized "the power of prayer" and the outpouring of concern from both those she knows and those she does not. "I may not have met you, but your prayers were felt. You cannot see them, but you can feel them." ||||| PARKLAND, Fla. - Panicked parents searching for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a shooter killed 17 people Wednesday in Parkland, were sharing their children's photos on social media and asking for help. 
 
 Michelle Wiseman was among the 2,840 Facebook users who shared the photo of Jaime Guttenberg, before the post was removed. Her parents, Fred and Jennifer Guttenberg, later learned that Jaime died in the shooting, while their son, Jesse, made it home. 
 
 Jaime Guttenberg, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at the school in Parkland. 
 
 "Praying for all of the families and kids," Wiseman wrote. 
 
 The Broward Sheriff's Office had yet to release the identities of the 17 dead or the 17 who were rushed to Broward Health North, Broward Medical Center, Broward Health Coral Springs and West Boca Medical Center. Authorities identified the suspected gunman as Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former troubled student at the school. 
 
 Broward Health Medical Center received seven patients, out of which two were in life-threatening condition. Broward Health North received eight patients and one suspect. Three were in life-threatening condition and two died. Broward Health Coral Springs received one patient with non-life threatening injuries. 
 
 It wasn't easy to get updates on social media, because most of the students posting on Snapchat and Instagram were using pseudonyms. A Twitter user known as "The Captain Aidan" published unidentifiable photos of himself and other students in a classroom. They were all sitting on the floor using their cellphones. 
 
 "My school is being shot up and I am locked inside," he wrote. "I’m f---- scared right now ... Please don't just send your love to me, but pray for the victims' families too," he wrote. "Love you all." 
 
 He later identified himself as a freshman and shared photos outside of the school where other parents were frantically waiting for updates. He also tweeted he and his brother were safe and with their parents in the car. 
 
 Chad Reidlinger, a friend of the Winkander family, shared a photo of Ben Wikander, a senior who hadn't contacted anyone Wednesday afternoon. His parents used the "Find My iPhone" app and his phone showed up in the hospital, but when his father arrived no one was able to provide any information. 
 
 Ben Wikander 
 
 "If any child has seen him or knows anything, please reach out. Thank you," Redilinger wrote. 
 
 Hours later, Ben's parents learned he had been shot three times and was having surgery at Broward North. 
 
 Shawn Malone Reeder Sherlock shared a photo of her niece, Gina Montalto, who was wearing ripped jeans and a floral burgundy top when she left to school in the morning. She said none of her friends knew where she was. 
 
 "Help us! Please stop what you are doing. We need to find my niece," she wrote in a post that had been shared at least 12,300 times. 
 
 Gina Montalto, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was killed in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at the school in Parkland. 
 
 Melisssa Dibble shared a photo of Alyssa Alhadeff, a student at the high school. They were hoping to connect with an ER doctor who could give them information and were asking for help. 
 
 "We have family members at each hospital, but there has been very little information given," Dibble wrote. "Prayers needed." 
 
 Martin Duque, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at the school in Parkland. 
 
 Chris DeVito said she was searching for Martin Duque, a freshman who was in the school during the shooting. 
 
 "My nephews and son are students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas," DeVito said. "We have located all but one. Can you please post this picture." 
 
 Robin Maisner asked for help. He published a photo of Meadow Pollack, a student at the school, and asked everyone to share it on social media. 
 
 Meadow Pollack 
 
 "Please let me or my family know -- she was in Douglas. We are extremely worried. Anything helps," Maisner wrote. "Please share this post." 
 
 Tara Bazinsky shared a photo of Cara Loughran, a student who hadn't been found as of 9 p.m. 
 
 "Please share and help us find her," Bazinsky wrote on Facebook. 
 
 Cara Loughran 
 
 Joseph Chiarella shared a photo of Nicholas Dworet, a senior, who also didn't make it home. Chiarella wrote his daughter was his girlfriend, and she and his friends hadn't heard from him. 
 
 Nicholas Dworet 
 
 "Please ask your kids if anyone has seen him," Chiarella wrote. "We have not heard from him yet." 
 
 Joaquin Oliver had also vanished. 
 
 Joaquin Oliver 
 
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– Maddy Wilford was shot multiple times in the Parkland school massacre and was near death as first responders tended to her after the shooting. But an observant Coral Springs Fire Department lieutenant asked the teen an important question as they prepared to whisk her away, and it was one that ended up saving her life. Per CNN, Maddy was in such bad shape when she was brought to Lt. Laz Ojeda and his rescue team that they initially thought she'd already died. "Signs of life," however, soon emerged, and after a Broward County Sheriff's Office SWAT team member sealed up a chest wound, they readied her to go to a children's hospital 30 miles away, where they'd been instructed to take the 15-year-old. Except Ojeda wasn't convinced she was only 15. And so, as Ojeda tearfully relayed at a Monday presser, he asked the girl twice how old she was; she finally answered she was 17. Based on that info, Ojeda, who thought she'd die before they got her to the children's facility, made the call to take her to a hospital just 10 miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. There, operating surgeon Dr. Igor Nichiporenko quickly did "damage control" on the badly injured teen, who'd been shot in the abdomen, chest, and upper sternum, with tendons "shattered from gunshot wounds." Astonishingly, Wilford was out of the hospital in less than a week. "Young people have a tendency to heal very fast," Nichiporenko says, per the New York Times. "She's very, very lucky." He adds that Ojeda's decision saved Maddy's life. Ojeda is just glad he was there to make the call. "I thank God for allowing us to be an instrument in this miracle," he told CNN Tuesday. As for Maddy? "I'm so grateful to be here," she said at the news conference, per CNN.