Maya Gebala was 12 years old when she held the door of a library in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, during a shooting. Doctors spoke of damage too severe to reverse.
Her mother wrote that they needed a miracle. Two days later, more news arrived. A kick, a hand movement, a sign of life. Since then, Maya has progressed slowly but without stopping. She underwent multiple brain surgeries; doctors left a bullet fragment where it was because moving it was riskier, and little by little she regained movement and a way to communicate: paddles with a yes and a no.
The right side of her body still does not respond. But recently Maya left B.C. Children’s Hospital for the first time to spend the day at Vancouver’s Bloedel Conservatory. Her mother said that her daughter “is experiencing life again”, and her father said it felt good to get away from the hospital, even if only for a few hours. Every week, her family shares a new milestone: a smile, a word, a short walk that once seemed impossible.
