Tumbler Ridge Shooting Survivor Undergoes Fifth Surgery, Father Calls It a Success

Maya Gebala is shown in this undated handout photo. The Canadian Press/Handout - GoFundMe, Krysta Hunt for Cia Edmonds

School shooting victim Maya Gebala has undergone a successful cranioplasty to repair damage to her skull and her family is hopeful the procedure will be the 12-year-old’s final surgery.

Maya’s father David Gebala announced the success of the procedure in a May 5 Facebook post, saying that although the operation “took a little longer than expected,” a synthetic implant is now in place where his daughter’s skull was damaged by one of the bullets that struck her during the Feb. 10 mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Gebala and Maya’s mother Cia Edmonds have been providing regular updates on their daughter’s condition since she was rushed to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver for treatment. This week’s operation marks her fifth to date, and Edmonds said if successful, it could be the Grade 7 student’s last surgery.

The May 5 surgery was needed to repair a missing piece of Maya’s skull, Edmonds said in a post prior to the procedure. She said her daughter’s head had been swelling and deflating over the past week and she has also been vomiting without any apparent explanation.

“It is high hopes that this new prosthetic barrier will enforce increased pressure to minimize cerebral fluid flow,” Edmonds wrote. “It is the highest hope, that this will all regulate it self in time.”

Edmonds said she is hopeful the procedure will release some pressure from Maya’s eye and face to help her regain normal functioning of her left eye.

Gebala said the family is also hoping the surgery will cause Maya’s hydrocephalus to “subside naturally so she can avoid another surgery for a shunt.”

Hydrocephalus is the buildup of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain. This causes increased pressure, tissue damage, and potential cognitive or physical impairment. The condition usually requires brain shunts, a flexible tube that helps drain the excess fluid to another part of the body, like the abdomen, where it can be safely reabsorbed.

There are risks associated with synthetic implants, but the family said it has “high hopes,” noting that Maya responded well after the 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,” her dad wrote. “Throughout the day, she continued to regain her pre-surgery spark moving her hand and leg, squeezing our fingers, and looking around with curiosity.”

US Treatment on Hold

Maya’s family confirmed a month ago that they had taken up Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White on his offer to pay for her treatment at a U.S. hospital.

But White told reporters a few weeks later during a recent post-fight press conference in Winnipeg that his team had run into some difficulties while trying to arrange for Maya to receive medical care south of the border.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” he said. “You would be [expletive] disgusted to know how hard it really is. Me and my team have been working on it. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m going to do my best.”

In the meantime, Maya’s family remains in Vancouver. Edmonds spoke briefly about the difficulty of securing treatment in the United States in an April 23 post.

“We haven’t left Canada,” she wrote. “The process to transfer hasn’t been easy to say the least. However, you will hear it from us first thing if or when we do.”

Maya is one of the victims of 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who opened fire at Tumbler Ridge Secondary in northeastern B.C. He killed five students and one teacher’s aide and also shot his mother and 11-year-old half-brother in their home earlier in the day.

Maya was the most severely injured of the survivors after being shot three times at close range. One bullet hit her in the head above her left eye, a second struck her in the neck, and the third grazed her cheek and earlobe.

Doctors originally told the family the damage to Maya’s brain was “too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,” Edmonds revealed in a social media post at the time.

She has continued to defy the odds, however, despite the severity of her injuries. While the family has not given extensive details about her injuries, they were laid out in lawsuits filed in California against tech firm OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for failing to report Van Rootselaar’s online activity to police.

Documents filed in court say the bullet that struck Maya’s skull “shattered bone fragments through her brain.”

“She is awake and aware, and she recognizes her mother’s voice and face, but she cannot move her body and she cannot speak,” the lawsuit says. “If M.G. survives, she will tragically live the rest of her life like this, with catastrophic brain injuries and permanent disabilities.”

Despite the prognosis, Maya’s parents have continued to point out that their daughter has already defied the odds.

“Our sweet, innocent little girl has been through so much,” Gebala wrote. “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.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.