Maya Gebala, a 12-year-old girl who was shot in the Tumbler Ridge, B.C., shooting in February, has successfully come through her fifth surgery, a cranioplasty. Her father, David, says it may be her last one.
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“ Maya’s cranioplasty was a success!” David wrote on X Tuesday, adding Maya has once again developed hydrocephalus, or a buildup of fluid in the brain, which the family hopes will resolve on its own. The family said Maya is looking around and moving her hand and leg.
Scary moments
The goal of the surgery, wrote Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds on Facebook, was to give Maya a prosthetic skull piece. Right now, Maya has an external ventricular drain (or EVD) to manage pressure changes and help the incision site heal, but there were some worries in the run-up to the surgery.
“This past week, her head (where the missing flap is), had swollen, deflated, and swollen again. It is very hard to watch, especially when we don’t really know why,” she wrote. “The past few weeks, she has been vomiting almost every day, for no concrete reason. No assumed cause has been consistent. There are speculations, of course, but nothing is known, the brain is a mystery.
“It is high hopes that, this new prosthetic barrier will enforce increased pressure to minimize cerebral fluid flow … It is the highest hope, that this will all regulate itself in time, and as a result, release some pressure from her eye *maybe it will open* as well as relieving pressure around the rest of her face.”But Maya’s father noted the positive post-surgery progress.
“Right after surgery, we were amazed to see Maya open her eye and lift her head to look around, showing incredible strength so soon after such a major procedure. Throughout the day, she continued to regain her pre-surgery spark, moving her hand and leg, squeezing our fingers, and looking around with curiosity,” David wrote.
“Our sweet, innocent little girl has been through so much. It breaks my heart to watch her endure all of this, but at the same time, I’ve never been more proud of what a fighter she is.”
Horrific injuries
Maya suffered major brain damage following the Feb. 10 mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., that left nine dead, including the shooter. She’s currently at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, recovering from the injury. Her parents have posted her progress on social media ever since, and garnered a massive outpouring of global support, including from UFC president Dana White , who has offered to look after her rehabilitation needs as soon as Maya is stable enough to make the move.