ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Madison Schemitz arrived at a recent interview with News4JAX in her wheelchair.
She was easily able to maneuver around in the new St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Training Center before the interview started.
Transferring to a chair in the conference room, you’d never know her continued physical struggles based on her bright smile and the jokes she cracked with the training center employees she had come to know well.
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Among these people is where she clearly feels at home; with an adopted family of law enforcement and first responders who have supported her since the day they rushed to help save her life on June 3, 2023. That’s when Madison’s ex-boyfriend stabbed her 17 times, in the parking lot of the Chubby’s Restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“I understood that I couldn’t feel my legs,” Madison said. “I understood that it was getting hard to breathe. I think I had a good understanding of it almost immediately.”
Madison said her body went into “fight or flight” mode as rescuers crowded around her, scrambling to get her to a hospital.
I asked her if she thought she was going to die.
“Yeah, 100%,” she said. “But I also had confidence in myself that I wouldn’t, and I had confidence in the first responders and everyone around me, that I would be OK.”
Madison’s spinal cord was lacerated during the attack, and that paralyzed her from the chest down.
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After several surgeries and countless sessions at Brooks Rehabilitation Center, Madison beat the odds and regained much of her mobility.
She documented her intense and often painful journey, in a video she posted online a year after the attack, then showed everyone her amazing progress by walking across her graduation stage unassisted to receive her high school diploma this past spring.
“I’m still in rehab, not five days a week, but two to three days for a couple of hours,” Madison said. “It’s obviously still difficult. It’s still not the same life that I lived before. It probably won’t ever be again.”
Before being sentenced last month to life in prison for attempted murder and aggravated battery charges, Madison’s admitted attacker Spencer Pearson apologized to her in court.
While she can’t comment specifically about the words he used due to a pending lawsuit against his family and Chubby’s Restaurant, Madison said she’s not a “crier” and that her personality doesn’t show much emotion.
Madison paused when asked how it was facing Pearson in court.
“Definitely a mix of emotions. I mean, obviously it’s not something that’s easy...If I know that I’m going to do something, I’m going to go there and I’m not going to cry. I’m just going to do it. But it definitely wasn’t easy,” she said.
Easing back into life as a typical teenager was also something that wasn’t easy for Madison.
“My perspective on life is definitely a lot different,” she said. “I’m very thankful to be alive, and I appreciate the fact that I am every single day, but I also am a lot more cautious and a lot more hyper-aware of my surroundings everywhere I go.”
Madison is working to turn her tragedy into real change and started a local chapter of the national non-profit One Love Foundation, which works to end relationship abuse by “empowering young people with tools and resources to see the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships.”
She couldn’t give enough thanks to the community for supporting her grueling recovery and heaped huge praise on her mother who tried to protect Madison and was also stabbed.
Seriously hurt too was Good Samaritan Kennedy Armstrong who ultimately saved Madison’s life by running toward her screams and pinning down the attacker until police arrived.
You can watch News4JAX’s entire conversation with Madison right now on “Discover the Joy: The Purdy Podcast” where she candidly discusses how she was robbed of her big senior year at Ponte Vedra High School playing softball.
It was Madison’s first sit-down interview since that horrific day.
The college freshman didn’t seem nervous talking about the attack but blushed when her cell phone rang at the start of the interview.
“I am sooo sorry,” she said smiling shyly, sliding the ringer off on her phone and slipping it back into her pocket, all in one continuous motion.
We got a good laugh together as we realized, some things about teenagers will never change.
Resources
If you or someone you know is or has been a victim of domestic violence or abuse, here’s a list of other resources available:
- The Florida Domestic Violence Hotline, which will direct you to the nearest shelter, is 1-800-500-1119.
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline is open 24 hours a day. The number is 1-800-799-SAFE.
- Hubbard House (Duval, Baker counties): 24/7 hotline is 904-354-3114 and Text line at 904-210-3698.
- The Micah’s Place (Nassau County) Domestic Violence Help Hotline is 904-225-9979.
- The Quigley House (Clay County) hotline is 904-284-0061.
- The Betty Griffin Center (St. Johns County) can be reached at 904-824-1555.