When I made my debut on the chemo stage in 2010, there were no cancer couture options for those of us who need to be plugged in, or “accessed,” as they say in port-land. At least none that I knew of.
Now I find there are options created by relatives and friends of some of us who’ve been through chemo, dialysis, transfusions or infusions.
RonWear Port-able Clothing looks like a jogging suit, but it includes four hidden zippered port openings in the chest and arms for easy access to body parts beneath. There are matching pants with a port opening for those who need femoral port (groin) access, as well as regular sweat pants with no zippers if the patient only needs a ported jacket but wants an outfit.
The idea dates back to 2004 when Deb Stanzak, founder and designer of RonWear, created a zippered, fleece jacket for her brother, Ron. Suffering from renal failure, Ron was cold in short-sleeved shirts during dialysis. Going through chemo with her husband, who had cancer, and her mother, who had congestive heart failure and needed transfusions, made the need for special clothing even more obvious, Stanzak explains in a Yahoo Finance video interview.
After the deaths of her brother, husband and mother, she redesigned the clothing, and in 2009 officially launched RonWear.
A port-access jacket is $69 and port-access pants are $59 on the company’s Web site, RonWear.com.
Another option: Libre Clothing, designed and created by four young entrepreneurs Megan Stengel, Mandy Eckman, Tess Schuster and Bethany Skaff while attending Miami University’s Page Center for Entrepreneurship. Stengel’s mom and Schuster’s grandfather both had to undergo dialysis, which inspired their idea for warm, comfortable clothing with port openings.
The women worked on the plan for a year, surveyed hundreds of dialysis patients about designs, and had prototypes tested during dialysis treatments, according to the company’s Web site: Libreclothing.com. Libre also was launched in 2009.
Their Web site offers tops with zippered arm and chest access which range from $44.99 to $59.99 and leg-access pants at $44.99. Demonstration videos show how they work.
I did and still do chemo on the cheap and comfort is queen.
Because I have a chest port in my right breast, I wear:
• A low-cut cotton camisole with built-in bra. The comfy camisole feels good, provides more relaxed support than an actual bra, and offers some cleavage control;
• Button-down, v-neck or scoop-neck shirt over the camisole;
• Draw-string sweat pants or yoga pants;
• Warm socks and slip on shoes ... easy-on, easy-off for those long chemo sessions;
• Head-gear. When I went bald, I have to admit I went more for sentiment than looks in the chemo room: I wore a too-big, day-glo hunter’s orange model that was a gift from one of my kids.
I loved it, but it kept falling down over my eyes, which disqualified me from the chemo couture catwalk, even during hunting season.
Sue Schroder, former features editor for The Grand Rapids Press, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2009. Email her at livenow.ss@gmail.com. For an index of her columns on MLive.com/grand-rapids, visit http://bit.ly/sueschroder.
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