Our Mission

Zip With Us® is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that donates custom ZipShirts™, Drew's Cruisers™, and other adapted medical garments across the U.S. to babies and kids with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, allowing them to keep their clothes on during treatments, adding comfort, function, and dignity while helping reduce fear & anxiety. As a core mission, we use our ZipShirt™ & Drew's Cruisers™ platform to improve the treatment experience for patients, raise critical research funds and increase awareness of the challenges these little heroes and their families face every day.

A young childhood cancer patient wearing a mediport

Our Story

We founded Zip With Us® in 2018 after our 2 year old son was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) while we were on a family vacation. During the next 3.5 years of hospital visits and chemotherapy, he had a "tubie,” his name for the medi-port device, implanted in his chest for frequent blood draws and infusions. When using implanted port devices for treatment, a hospital staff member inserts a large needle through the child’s skin and into the device. This process happens in plain view of the child and is a scary and painful experience for many of the 87,000 babies and kids receiving infusions via their port device.

For newly diagnosed patients, the initial days and weeks are filled with a range of emotions dominated by intense anguish, fear and pain.

Amidst those first days of diagnosis, we received an unexpected gift: a green, long-sleeved t-shirt with a hand sewn zipper on the shoulder. In an accompanying note, the mystery seamstress revealed she was someone who had "been there" before, understood what was to come, and knew that this shirt would make a considerable difference.

The ZipShirt™ became a familiar item and a tangible source of comfort for our son during over a hundred infusion days and countless impromptu emergency room trips. Regardless of the day’s treatment, his trusty ZipShirt™ stayed on, the port easily accessed via the zipper on his shoulder. Soon, doctors, nurses, medical staff, and other parents began remarking, "what a great idea" and “what an amazing shirt.” Fellow parents started asking where and how they could get one for their child. Soon after, Zip With Us® was born!

Zip With Us® welcomed Drew’s Cruisers™ to the team in 2023, extending our mission even further.

Originally created by Mandy, Drew's mom, these adapted onesies protect vital central lines and keep babies comfortable. The simple Velcro pocket on the back of Drew's Cruisers™ keeps little hands away from tubing and cords, lowering the risk of line infections or treatment delay and preserving patient independence, which is necessary for continued natural development.

Our mission is simple — Provide a free, custom ZipShirt™, Drew's Cruiser™ adapted onesie, or other adapted medical garment for every child with an implanted access device, G-tube, or other medical access needs in the United States. We want to make a real, tangible difference in the lives of these pediatric patients and their families, one custom, medically-adapted garment at a time. We also hope to leverage the ZipShirt™ and Drew's Cruisers™ platform to improve treatment experience, raise research funds for leading pediatric cancer organizations, and bring awareness to the fight that kids and their families face every day.

Everything we do is as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Thanks to countless fundraisers, T-shirt/onesie drives, donations, charitable contributions, and Zip With Us® Store purchases, we now proudly partner with over 150 pediatric hospitals across the world. One ZipShirt™, Drew's Cruisers™ onesie pack, or custom medical garment is one child and family served. It is an incredible honor to have your support, and on behalf of the entire Zip With Us® team, thank you!

Very truly yours,

Angela Degnan, Executive Director

Zip With Us®

Childhood Cancer at a Glance

While there have been great strides in treatment and prognosis for many types of cancer, pediatric cancer receives minimal allocation of crucial research dollars.  The facts speak for themselves.

  • Only 3

    drugs approved in the first instance for use in children since 1980.

  • 43

    Kids will be told "You have Cancer" today.

  • 95%

    of childhood cancer survivors will have a significant health issue by Age 45. 

  • ONLY 4%

    of all federal cancer research funding is for childhood cancer. (National Cancer Institute)

  • 15,270

    kids will be diagnosed with cancer this year in the U.S. (National Cancer Institute)

  • 75,000

    "port devices" are implanted in kids each year, and over 400,000 will receive "PICC" lines. (iData Research)

The Facts

    • According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 15,270 children in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in 2018 (National Cancer Institute).
    • Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children (National Cancer Institute).
    • More than 40,000 children undergo cancer treatment each year (Curesearch). 
    • The incidence of childhood cancer is on the increase, averaging 0.6% increase per year since mid 1970’s resulting in an overall increase of 24% over the last 40 years (American Cancer Society).
    • 1 in 285 children was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 (American Cancer Society).
    • Pediatric cancer research (i.e. for childhood cancers) is only 4% of all research dollars spent in the U.S (National Cancer Institute).
    • In 2017, there were an estimated 75,000 port devices and 400,000 PICC's implanted in children in the United States (as reported by iData Research)
    • Childhood cancer is not one disease – there are more than 12 major types of pediatric cancersand over 100 subtypes (CAC2.org)
    • Prostate cancer (patient average age at diagnosis, 66 years), receives more research funding from NCI than all childhood cancers combined (patient average age at diagnosis, 8 years). (CAC2.org)