UFC president Dana White has offered to bring Tumbler Ridge shooting survivor Maya Gebala to the U.S. for medical care, according to the girl’s mother.
Article content
Cia Edmonds made the revelation Wednesday evening in a social media post updating 12-year-old Maya’s condition.
Article content
Article content
“So today I (finally) got some good news,” the mother wrote.
Article content
An abscess caused by a bacterial infection hadn’t grown in size and a sample taken from the abscess showed no cultures, Edmonds said.
Article content
Advertisement 1
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“That’s a good sign (not a promise) that it’s potentially dead and just needed to be removed.”
Article content
Sunrise
Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion.Sign Up
By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.
Article content
Doctors over the weekend had to delay a planned surgery to repair the girl’s skull due to the abscess.
Article content
Maya suffered significant brain damage after being shot by Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, during a mass shooting Feb. 10 in Tumbler Ridge that killed six people in a school and two others in a home. Rootselaar then killed herself.
Article content
Edmonds said the family had a meeting with medical staff about Maya possibly leaving the intensive-care unit at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Article content
“The first time anything has been said that isn’t emotionally debilitating,” Edmonds wrote, describing her daughter as a “fighter.”
Article content
Edmonds said in the same post that she was now able to share that about a week after Maya’s admission to hospital the family was contacted by White. He offered to pay for medical care for Maya at “one of the world’s most top-tier hospitals in L.A. California” and cover accommodations for the family.
Article content
Advertisement 2
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
That Los Angeles hospital has an “extensive brain trauma clinic and more resources,” she wrote. “However, Maya hadn’t been stable enough to travel. Until now.”
Article content
Read More
Article content
Edmonds said a transfer to California is still tentative.
Article content
“Providing nothing serious happens between now and Monday. We may finally start looking towards a future for my girls … Stability and recovery,” she wrote. “It feels as though the air got lighter, and Maya has some light in her eyes … hope just got a little more brighter.”
Article content
Dr. Judy Illes, a University of B.C. medical ethicist with expertise in neurosciences, said she couldn’t comment on any specific hospital in the U.S., Canada or elsewhere, but described the Canadian health-care system as “absolutely superb” and care for pediatric patients as “world-class.”
Article content
“Parents always seek the best care for their children, but the resources in our urban centres is every bit as good at every level and equivalent to facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere,” said Illes, who’s on a year’s study leave to develop a strategic plan for the next decade for Neuroethics Canada.
Advertisement 1
This advertisement has not loaded yet.
Trending
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
She said the U.S. has specialist doctors who have expertise for rare cases, but Canada’s neurosurgery and neurology care are “top-of-the-line” and equivalent to what’s available in other countries.
Article content
Illes also said there are other factors to consider when seeking care in another country, including the effect on the patient and family of leaving their communities and the support of their extended family and friends.
Article content
On Feb. 21, the UFC paid tribute to Maya at an event in Texas by having her name printed on part of the octagon, the enclosed cage used for fights.
