Maya Gebala leaves hospital 262 days after Tumbler Ridge shooting

Maya Gebala, a victim of the Tumbler Ridge shooting, has been released from hospital. In an update on X on Thursday morning, her father, David Gebala, said it had been 262 days since the fatal shooting and since Maya was airlifted to BC Children’s Hospital. He recalled being told that medical staff had done everything they could but did not think she would survive the night. Since then, he said, he has watched his daughter fight through every day.

David chronicled her progress. At 251 days, Maya opened one eye, moved it and shifted her leg, but was rushed into emergency surgery again for hydrocephalus. At 238 days, she was extubated and breathed on her own for the first time. At 230 days, she felt the sun on her face. Maya was shot inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Feb. 10.

David said that 213 days after the shooting, he held Maya for the first time since leaving for work on the morning of Feb. 10. At 145 days, she intentionally smiled while they played thumb war; at 140 days, he wheeled her off hospital grounds for the first time. Forty days ago, they celebrated Maya’s 13th birthday at a Foo Fighters concert.

“There was never a day I stopped believing we would get here,” David wrote. He said the road ahead remained long, but the milestone was one no one thought they would reach. He called Maya the bravest person he knew and an inspiration to many. He thanked the nurses, doctors and therapists who helped the family reach this point, and said it was time to leave the hospital behind and keep moving forward.

The mass shooting left the small mining community of Tumbler Ridge reeling. Eight people and the shooter were killed, and dozens more were injured. Maya and another victim, Paige Hoekstra, were airlifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital after the shooting.