Complications delay Tumbler Ridge shooting victim’s prosthetic skull surgery

TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C. — A victim of the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting has suffered a setback as she recovers from her injuries. 

According to an update posted on Maya Gebala’s GoFundMe page on March 24th, Cia Edmonds, Gebala’s mother, said the 12-year-old’s surgery to get a prosthetic skull did not happen. 

Gebala is one of victims who was airlifted to the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver after she suffered gunshot wounds to her head and neck during the February 10th school shooting. 

In an earlier March 20th update, Edmonds said: “Tomorrow (in 3.5 hours) Maya is set for surgery, her fourth one total. 

“She is finally getting a prosthetic piece of her skull put in place [to replace] the one she had that was fractured to bits from a bullet.” 

However, Edmonds later said that surgery did not happen as there were complications. 

“Thursday, her sutures started to leak… [an] infection…She did go for surgery [but] she did not get her prosthetic,” Edmonds said in her March 24th update. “Seven hours we sit and wait, to find out she had an abscess burst, a pocket of infection that went so deep it couldn’t be seen. The surgeons spent hours cleaning this out.” 

Edmonds said the infection has not grown and is sterile at the moment.

“[For] the last few days, people ask me how Maya is…the truth is I don’t know,” Edmonds said. “Her bones hurt from laying down for so long…I can imagine the slew of meds aren’t making her feel any more than barely bearable.” 

She said she appreciated all the love Gebala has been receiving. 

“She truly is ‘living on a prayer,”’ she added. 

To donate to Maya’s GoFundMe, click here. To see GoFundMes for all the victims of the tragedy, visit GoFundMe’s Tumbler Ridge Shooting Relief page.