Canadian kids dealing with cancer, including those in Orillia, will receive free port shirts they can customize thanks to a non-profit organization.
Zippaport was created by Julie Middleton in 2020, after her four-year-old daughter, Sadie, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Middleton started sewing zippers into her daughter’s shirts to allow for easier access to the port-a-cath, which is used to provide treatment.
“She has been such a trooper, but asking her to take off her shirt so that her port could be accessed was a continued source of anxiety,” Middleton wrote on the Zippaport website.
Zippaport has sent more than 2,600 free port shirts to Canadian pediatric cancer patients since 2020.
On Aug. 23, ahead of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, Middleton will host a port shirt packing party at 120 Lawlor Ave. in Toronto. Volunteers will pack 500 design-your-own Zippaport kits to send to 16 hospitals, including Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital. Kits will include white Zippaport shirts, fabric markers donated by Crayola Canada, colouring sheets, and tie dye sets.
“Hospital stays and clinic days are long and scary for sick kids and their families. Allowing children to get creative and individualize their own port-accessible shirts will provide much-needed fun for these brave kids,” a Zippaport news release stated.
