Schooling Jori
“Jorianna was so bullied in school; there were times she couldn’t get into her classroom safely. Then, just two weeks into her new school, she was diagnosed with cancer. She missed all of grade seven. After her treatments, CBE tried to place her in grade eight, but Jori just couldn’t go back. She was paralyzed with fear. She hasn’t been back to school since. But her tutoring sessions with Anna are helping to change this.” ~ Sharon Boutin
When Jori was 12, she was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer that forms in the connective tissue. That was in 2013. Since that time, both her mother Sharon and her Aunt Marina have also been diagnosed with cancer.
Although anxiety is common among childhood cancer survivors, rampant family cancer and schoolyard bullies pushed Jori’s fear to a whole new level. At age 13, returning to school—bald and vulnerable—was just too much for her. Jori just couldn’t make herself go back to school.
“It’s so frustrating,” says Jori’s mother Sharon Boutin. “Even psychiatrists, medical doctors, don’t get it. They say her cancer is gone and she needs to forget it, but they don’t understand that fear. The fear that it may return. I don’t know if that fear ever goes away. Once you have cancer, there’s no going back.”
Fortunately, there is someone who understands that fear—Anna Dabrowski, Jori’s volunteer tutor who gives Jori weekly lessons in math and English through Kids Cancer Care’s Education Support Program.
Anna is also a cancer survivor, diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at 16. Like Jori, she knows what it’s like to be a teenager and lose her hair. She also knows what it’s like to be on chemotherapy, to be tired and nauseous all the time.
In fact, Jori and Anna have a lot in common. Sometimes they spend the better part of the tutoring session just talking. They talk about their cancer journeys, their battle scars and the after effects.
“Did your hair grow back curly and brown?” asks Jori brightly. “Mine did. It used to be blonde. Now it’s brunette.”
As with many childhood cancer survivors, these two established an instant bond. It’s a relationship that has been key to Jori’s healing and recovery.
“We’ve seen big changes in Jori since she started tutoring with Anna last September,” says Mom. “She’s back in karate again and starting to see her friends again. She’s even participating in the High Hopes Challenge this year. We’re starting to see our Jo Jo come back.”
Anna has seen a big change in Jori too. “She started off very quiet,” says Anna. “But she’s super confident now. She’s much more focused. She knows she can do it and figure it out—whatever the problem may be.”
Jori’s anxiety has been so debilitating that she hasn’t seen the inside of classroom in two years. Now she’s working on a plan to gradually re-enter the classroom by volunteering in a grade-four classroom 
until she’s ready to be in a classroom with her peers.
There’s a lot at stake for Jori when it comes to education. Jori wants to be a marine biologist, which will demand a serious amount of schooling. She loves animals, especially marginalized and misunderstood animals such as snakes and spiders and sharks.
“My dream is to swim with sharks one day,” says Jori. “Not in a cage but freely beside them.”
“Jo Jo’s the kind of kid that butterflies flock to and land on,” says Sharon. “A butterfly once landed on her nose at a butterfly conservatory and stayed there forever. She has this innate kindness and still center that animals immediately recognize.”
With the help of Anna, her parents and older brother Jari, Jorianna is bravely adopting strategies to manage her anxiety. One day, she’ll make an amazing marine biologist.
Thank you for helping young people like Jori realize their dreams and potential through our new Education Support Program.