MINNEAPOLIS () The neurosurgeon treating a 12-year-old girl shot in the head during a school shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school said Friday there are “rays of hope” for her survival, though she remains in critical condition 10 days after the attack.

Dr. Walt Galicich said Sophia Forchas is showing slight movement in her right leg and opening her eyes slightly while being treated in Hennepin Healthcare’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

She was shot in the left temporal lobe during the August 27 attack at Annunciation Catholic School that killed two children and injured 21 people.

“I’m going to be blunt … Sophia is still in critical condition. There is a chance that she is maybe the third fatality of this event. But the door has been opened a little bit and there are rays of hope shining through,” Galicich said.

Sophia Forchas shows slight leg movement, left half of skull removed

The bullet remains lodged in Sophia’s brain, crossing from one hemisphere to another. Galicich said surgeons removed the left half of her skull to give her brain room to swell and are keeping her heavily sedated in a medically induced coma to control brain pressure.

“Unfortunately, the bullet path injured critical vessels” and caused a stroke, Galicich said. “I don’t know what her permanent deficits are going to be, but we are a little more optimistic that she is going to survive.”

The surgeon said the bullet could affect language centers and her ability to speak and understand speech, but doctors are hoping her young brain’s elasticity will aid recovery. He said there’s no benefit to removing the bullet, which could cause additional harm.

Tom Forchas described his daughter as “kind, brilliant, full of life” and thanked medical staff for giving Sophia “a fighting chance.”

“If it wasn’t for your skill and attentiveness, Sophia would not be here today,” he said.

A GoFundMe campaign for the family’s medical expenses has raised nearly $970,000 as of Friday afternoon. Sophia’s mother works as a pediatric critical care nurse and arrived at work to help during the tragedy before learning her own children’s school had been attacked.

“I hope someday we can get it through politicians’ thick skulls how terrible it feels to tell the parents of a 12-year-old that their child was shot,” Galicich said.