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Maya Gebala's family living 'between a car and a couch' after struggling to find housing in Canada
The mother of Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala says the family are unable to acquire housing in Canada, in an update to a GoFundMe page .
“It has been nearly impossible to acquire housing. knowing she will likely be in a wheelchair,” reads an update posted on behalf of Cia Edmonds, Maya’s mother, on May 29.
“For a while little Dahlia (Maya’s sister) and I stayed in a series of Airbnbs, thinking we would find a home soon.”
Edmonds added that this was “Under the implication that victim services would cover accommodations and expenses as they offer on the government website.”
However, she shared that the family doesn’t qualify for the “list of potential benefits covered for traumatized families searching for a new normal in an unthinkable situation.”
She wrote: “Turns out, legislation is written in such a way, we don’t qualify. So all and any expenses are left to be fulfilled by any organizations holding donations, that has literally saved us so far.
“So, with that, accommodations have become too much, and we live between the back of my car and a couch in the hospital. Hoping we find a place that fits all our requirements sometime soon.”
Last month, Edmonds confirmed that the family remained in Canada in an update to her Facebook page , despite previously accepting an offer from Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White to pay for Maya’s treatment and the family’s accommodation in Los Angeles.
In the recent GoFundMe update, Edmonds said: “We never went to L.A. for anyone who believed we did, it just didn’t happen. There was too much uncertainty and (Maya’s) state was too fragile to have the travel was worth the risk. In all honesty I think I pulled the trigger on that post too early, although I didn’t see it that way at the time – my bad.
“We are now, however, researching neurospecific hospitals worldwide for advanced treatment, if we find one she may qualify for, we would rather go broke taking any potential avenues available, than walk the arduous path of ‘wait and see’.”
Twelve-year-old Maya has been at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver since February, after she was shot by Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, during a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge. Six people were killed at a school and two others in a home during the attack.
On Maya’s current condition, Edmonds wrote: “People ask me, regularly, is Maya okay? I suppose. If okay is the mid line on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being dead, 10 being thriving, I suppose okay would suffice.”
She added: “She can’t communicate. Or articulate feelings. Her eyes tell me she is in there still.”
Maya had her fifth, and possibly final, surgery on May 5, which Edmonds said in the post “went well.”
The day before the surgery, Edmonds shared in a Facebook update : “If all goes well, she will receive her prosthetic skull piece. If all goes GREAT it could be her last surgery.”
She also described the week leading up to the surgery, stating the portion of Maya’s head where “the missing flap is, had swollen, deflated, and swollen again … It is very (hard) to watch, especially when we don’t really know why.”
Maya’s father, David Gebala, shared in an X post on the day of the surgery: “Maya’s cranioplasty was a success!”
“Right after surgery, we were amazed to see Maya open her eye and lift her head to look around showing incredible strength so soon after such a major procedure,” he wrote. “Throughout the day, she continued to regain her pre-surgery spark moving her hand and leg, squeezing our fingers, and looking around with curiosity.”
The surgery took “a little longer” than expected, he said, noting that the surgical team “took their time to ensure everything was done carefully.”
Meanwhile, Maya’s mother wrote in the GoFundMe post that she “still keep(s) faith,” despite the family’s struggles. “Now that her life doesn’t hang in the fragile threads of moments and possibilities, I’m left with the mountain of broken pieces that was once our lives…Time to deal with the mess.”
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