Six months after being critically injured during the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, Maya Gebala is finding her voice again. The 12-year-old’s mother revealed on Monday that her daughter has regained the ability to speak, posting a video of Maya saying “mom.” “I prayed for this day, every day, for months,” Cia Edmonds wrote on Facebook. She says her daughter remains in hospital and cries often, longing for home. Maya was airlifted and admitted to BC Children’s Hospital on Feb. 10 after being shot three times in her head and neck during the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. The 18-year-old shooter ultimately killed six people inside the school, as well as two family members at a second location, before dying of self-inflicted gun-wounds. Gebala has since undergone five surgeries to repair her damaged skull. Her parents have been chronicling and celebrating her recovery milestones online since.
