Michael Tulkki wants to make cancer care a little more comfortable, one shirt at a time.

The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry graduate and endodontist in Wayzata, Minn., has long had an interest in feel-good garments: In 2014, he started a company that makes high-quality medical scrubs. But it wasn’t until he saw the story of Casey O’Brien, a cancer survivor and former Golden Gopher football player, that he was inspired to make clothing specifically for people going through cancer treatment.

“Casey’s story really hit me,” Tulkki recalls. “Knowing he was going straight from football practice to chemo treatments made me think, ‘I wonder if there’s something we can do to help people like Casey.’”

He connected with O’Brien, and in 2019, Tulkki created Cancer Care Foundation MN, a nonprofit organization that fashions breathable, stretchable shirts for kids that are made to accommodate the logistics of cancer care. The shirts include a built-in opening that allows medical providers to easily access a child’s chemotherapy port without the pain or inconvenience of removing clothes.

Tulkki called on his son, Ethan, who at the time was in sixth grade, to weigh in on the design and help deliver the finished product to people going through cancer treatment. Their initial run was 50 shirts; seven years later, Cancer Care Foundation MN has donated more than 2,400 port shirts to hospitals including M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital.

The Tulkkis also collaborated with students in the University of Minnesota College of Design’s Apparel Design Program to expand their offerings to include port-accessible onesies for babies and toddlers.

“We’ve heard from nurses at Masonic about how much the kids and families appreciate these shirts,” says Ethan Tulkki, who is now a senior in high school. “It’s such an awesome feeling to know that they are making a difference in people’s lives.”