Sheena Alexandra

🚨UPDATE with EXCLUSIVE INFO: 14-YEAR-OLD MADDISON McDONALD IS BACK IN THE HOSPITAL - SHE HAS LOST FEELING AND FUNCTION IN HER RIGHT LEG, AND DOCTORS HAVE NOW DISCOVERED A MASS ON HER BRAIN This is an incredibly difficult update to write. Full 🧵 Three months ago, I brought you my exclusive investigation into what happened to 13-year-old Maddison McDonald, the autistic Northside ISD student who was brutally attacked by multiple students at Sul Ross Middle School in San Antonio. (She was 13 at the time of the attack) Now, Maddison is back in the hospital - and her recovery has taken a devastating turn. Her mother reached out to me directly with the update and sent me photographs of Maddison, along with images of her scans. According to her mother, Maddison was simply trying to make her bed when she ended up on the floor, screaming in pain and unable to even get herself onto her knees. Doctors performed scans and MRIs and discovered both a slipped disc and a bulging disc at L4 and L5, which her mother says are causing Maddison’s severe pain and loss of function in her legs. Maddison has regained most of the feeling and function on her left side, but her right leg has still not recovered. She currently cannot safely get around without the assistance of a wheelchair or walker. But doctors also discovered something terrifying: A mass on Maddison’s brain approximately the size of a gumball. It’s on the right side of her temporal lobe. When I investigated this case in May, I obtained documents, medical records, emails, photographs, interview transcripts and screenshots related to what happened before, during and after the February 26 attack. According to Maddison’s family, she had repeatedly reported bullying and threats to school staff for months before the assault. I obtained emails showing school staff discussing counseling resources for Maddison weeks before the attack because of emotional distress and bullying concerns. I also reviewed records documenting her autism and ADHD diagnoses. Then, on February 26, the situation escalated into violence. According to Maddison’s handwritten statement, her family, sources I interviewed, and video footage I personally reviewed, multiple older students approached Maddison from behind. Several students grabbed her, dragged her to the ground by her hair, punched her and kicked her. Her glasses were broken during the assault. Her mother told me students had already begun filming before the attack started. A source told me there were students recording from multiple angles and that the assault appeared coordinated. Photographs provided to me showed injuries to Maddison’s scalp where the family says chunks of her hair were ripped out. Other photographs showed her hospitalized in a neck brace while being evaluated for head, neck and back injuries. But what happened after the attack inside the school office was one of the most disturbing parts of my original reporting. According to sources I interviewed, Maddison was injured, crying and begging for help while administrators focused on getting her to complete a written statement. Her mother told me Maddison repeatedly begged for her mother and cried: “Can I just have my mom please? I’m hurting?”