APPLETON, Wis. — A cancer patient at ThedaCare Cancer Center supplied all the materials to make modified shirts for chemotherapy patients. Today, he received the first one.
The patient suggested the idea in an effort to give nurses easier access to the port needed to draw blood and give chemotherapy and antibiotics.
Patients often do not know what to wear for treatment, ThedaCare officials said. Patients undergoing chemotherapy need a shirt that will give easy access to the port, which is usually placed under the skin on either side of the patient’s chest.
Icon Marketing Inc. donated 1,000 shirts for the project, while the patient supplied the materials needed to modify them.
The shirt comes with a small zipper down the side that lets nurses open the shirt up as far as they need, without overexposing the patient.
Lisa Kellnhauser, the coordinator of cosmetology services at ThedaCare, said these new shirts will make treatment easier for the patients, too.
“I think it makes them feel more comfortable, and that’s very important,” Kellnhauser said. “They don’t have to worry about what’s showing, what’s open. It’s just more comfort and that’s what we go for.”
Kellnhauser said it’s a great feeling to see a patient who is going through treatment still want to help others along the way.
“I think it’s amazing. All that they are going through and then want to also give back, that’s just a wonderful person,” Kellnhauser said. “To want to help other patients that you’re sitting around seeing and helping the nurses, that’s a great feeling.”
As more shirts become available, Kellnhauser and her team will continue to give them out to patients, free of cost.