Bridging the gap
The Foundation’s Youth Education Awards help young adults navigate life after childhood brain tumours.
At just four years old, Maryam Khraishi was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The years that followed were spent in and out of SickKids in Toronto, a place she came to think of as a second home. Rather than remembering illness, she remembers the volunteers, activities and community that helped make difficult days brighter.
Her experiences have since inspired a new path. Now entering her third year of social work at Toronto Metropolitan University, Khraishi also works in research at SickKids, where she hopes to improve the experience of young people navigating the transition from paediatric to adult care—a challenge she understands firsthand.
“As a kid, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon,” she says. “I wanted to work in the medical field and give some sort of care to kids who might be in the situation I was growing up.”
Through her studies and research, Maryam is working toward that goal in a different way, by helping identify gaps in care and supporting patients and families as they navigate their own health-care journeys.
Receiving a Youth Education Award from the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada has helped ease the financial burden of pursuing her education, while reaffirming that something positive could come from her own experience.
The Awards, funded entirely through donor generosity, support the educational aspirations of young adult brain tumour survivors, improving access to post-secondary education. The goal is to enhance inclusion and accessibility and recognize the significant challenges brain tumour survivors face.
When she learned she had received the award, one of the first people she told was her father.
“My heart just felt so full,” she says. “It felt like something good came out of my journey.”
As she continues her studies, Khraishi hopes to use her education and lived experience to improve care for future patients. Her message to other young people living with a brain tumour is simple: take the time you need to heal. “It gets better,” she says.
2025 Youth Education Award recipients
Nithin Austin
Shyann BentSaint John, New Brunswick
Generously funded by Youth Leadership Foundation, in honour of Dr. David Macdonald
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Hugh James MawNorth York, Ontario
Generously funded by Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada donors
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Elliot TurnerWinnipeg, Manitoba
Generously funded by Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada donors
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Jack Woodbridge
Maryam Khraishi