BURST
Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala has shown “incredible improvement” according to Facebook posts from her parents, who are watching over the 12-year-old as she recovers in B.C. Children’s Hospital.
“Sweet baby. She had her breathing tube removed to see if she can breath on her own … what a terrifying experience,” her mother, Cia Edmonds, wrote on Friday.
“I held her hand while she winced, but she’s doing great. Best that could have been. My sweet girl, is looking more like her beautiful self today.”
Gebala was shot twice — once in the neck and once in the head — by shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar during the 18-year-old’s murderous Feb. 10 rampage through the northeastern B.C. town, and was one of two students airlifted to hospital in the wake of the incident that left nine people dead and 27 injured.
She has healed slowly from the physical trauma and recovery, which has included emergency surgery.
“She’s been fairly active, moving the left side of her body, and she even pushed herself up using the foot of the bed,” wrote her father, David Gebala. “The surgeon showed us her latest CT scans last night, and they are some of the clearest we’ve seen yet. What an incredible improvement from the earlier ones.
“We’re not saying we’re in the clear. This is still something we have to take day by day, but she keeps pushing and showing us she’s there. We’ve seen her move her right arm and leg ever so slightly on a couple of occasions, and now her left eye is reacting to light! It might seem little but it’s a lot for her! And huge for all of us
“Step by step. Day by day. We will get there.”