Maya moving?

Updates on local hero Maya Gebala are hard to get in the paper, as her condition can shift radically over the course of a few days.

For instance, on March 20, she was heading in for an operation to get a prosthetic implanted in her skull to replace the bone that was shattered by a bullet.

And, while that surgery happened, it turns out the prosthetic wasn’t implanted, as doctors discovered that there was an abscess in her brain.

Mother Cia Edmonds says it becomes hard to share information, because it can change from day to day. “I tend to wait, so I can share information from a place of information and acceptance, instead of frantic and uncertainty,” she wrote in an update on March 24.

“They say rehabilitation is non linear. I cannot express enough the emotional toll of ‘non linear’.”

Surgeons instead removed a lump the size of tennis ball from Maya’s brain.

“The surgeons spent hours cleaning this out, with no way to be certain. Days went by, and this infection has no growth. no cultures. The infection is so far, sterile.

At the time, Edmonds explained that the abscess was just left over from a previous infection, killed by a course of antibodies and just needing to be cleaned. That would be the best outcome.

A second theory was the infection resided and was held off by the antibiotics shed finished the week prior. Meaning, we have to start another course of antibodies.

The last option was the worst: “Maybe it is a previous infection that has learned to become resistant. They started Maya on two broad spectrum heavy antibiotics after the first week. If this is a mutated version that is now resistant to these antibiotics, that leaves minimal hope for a cure. It could continue to spread, causing pain, and destruction, potentially even sepsis.”

That was on March 24. The next day, her questions appeared to be answered.”

“The sample from her abscess has no cultures. but it also hasn’t grown in size.

Thats a good sign (not a promise) that its potentially dead and just needed to be removed.”

Edmonds and husband David Gebala met with the hospital to discuss moving Maya out of ICU. She says this is the first time anything has been said that hasn’t been emotionally debilitating. “I’m so incredibly proud of my baby girl. She is SUCH a fighter… SO MUCH that she was recognized as such, early on.

Edmonds also revealed news that she’s been sitting on, due to Maya’s sometimes fragile circumstances.

Do you remember how Maya’s name showed up on the ring at some UFC fights?

Well, turns out that the president of UFC, Dana White, had heard about Maya’s case and, like most of the world, has been cheering her on.

But White has gone a step further. Back in February, after Maya had been in the ICU for a week, White contacted the family and offered to pay Maya’s medical bills if they wanted to transfer her to one of the world’s best hospitals in Los Angeles, as well as a place for the rest of the family to stay.

“Its incredible really,” writes Edmonds. “I would have never thought this is where this would go. I’m finally excited to see her become the best version of who she can be through all this.”

Of course, she says, this is all still tentative. Doctors were going to be watching her condition for the next few days before making a decision, as Maya had not been stable enough to travel. “This is still tentative!” she warns.

But, says Edmonds, she finally has a thread of hope that she can hold on to. “I may finally start looking towards a future for my girls, stability and recovery.” Edmonds says they are going to start thinking about long term care for Maya, in terms of wheelchairs, etc.

“It feels as thought the air got lighter, and Maya has some light in her eyes. Hope just got a little more brighter. My fighter. I always said her stubborn hard head would work well for her some day.”