Kids With Cancer Have Specialized School In Brandon: Report

BRANDON, FL ? A Brandon woman who lost her son to cancer 25 years ago opened the first school in the U.S. dedicated to children living with cancer Wednesday.

Mary Ann Massolio, founder of the school, 1Voice Academy in Brandon, knows the frustrations kids battling cancer deal with in school, and 1Voice provides a safe place for them where they aren't isolated by others.

"We have outdoor classrooms," Massolio told WTVT. "We have special filtration, clean and sterile rooms and they are not around other children who could be sick regularly, let alone during a pandemic."

Kids with cancer need a place where they don?t have to explain why they don?t feel well, she said.

?We spend a lot of time telling our children with cancer, 'You can?t do this, you can?t do that; you can?t go to the birthday party or the football game,'? Massolio told WFLA. ?They should at least be able to go to school and be with their peers ? and who better than [with] other children who are on the same journey they are.?

Wednesday was 25 years to the day Massolio?s 9-year-old son Jay died of Non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma, the TV outlet reported.

Students at the 1Voice co-enroll there and in their local school with an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

1Voice is a fully-accredited educational institution with the Hillsborough County School Board. It's located at 1935 Camp Florida Rd., Brandon. For more information, visit here.