We recently connected with Jamie Shultz and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I have never been a morning person. When I first got sick, I had to go for infusions every 10 days, 5 days a week. The infusions were at a hospital over an hour from my house. In order to prepare my chest port so I would not feel the painful stick when accessed, I had to have my husband help me cut Saran Wrap, quickly lean back to apply a runny lidocaine cream on my shirt, and then stick the Saran Wrap over my chest port as quickly as possible. I got so tired of this and was not happy about it in the mornings. I would then get into the car, and my seat belt would smush it, or it would leak all over my shirt.

One day, I went to put my hair in a pony tail, and the saran wrap actually STUCK to my hand so I had lidocaine cream IN MY HAIR. I decided there had to be a better product, so I actually tried to buy something online. I was shocked to find that there was NOTHING on the market specially designed to help a patient numb his or her port prior to infusion. I was then inspired to create something of my own because I truly wanted to help people!

Jamie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In 2017, I was on the top of the world. The man of my dreams proposed, we bought a house, I passed the bar, and landed my dream job. Not long after, I started having serious health issues. I thought they were heart issues due to family history, but had a thorough work up, and nothing was wrong with my heart. Every doctor thought it was anxiety. Until it clearly wasn’t.

In December 2017, I was rushed to the ER with severe symptoms – my kidneys shut down, I had a malar rash, headache, weak legs, and all sorts of weird issues.

I saw several doctors and had tons of testing from the top institutions around the US – Northwestern, Emory, Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health – who all concluded I had severe, rare autoimmune diseases causing several issues from vascular abnormalities, nerve dysfunction, motility, and connective tissue diseases.

I was in the hospital every weekend in 2018 and barely made it to my wedding in June. I was so weak, could barely walk to my mailbox, and needed a walker and other mobility aids. Life was awful.

I finally received medications that required a chest port and received these medications frequently. Over time, these medications gave me my life back, but they also took a toll on my health, job, and other things.

The infusions were frequent and I hated feeling the painful poke prior to my chest port access. The numbing cream with Saran Wrap was not working for me – it was messy, frustrating and time consuming. I would see patients with their shirts pulled down like mine with a blob of lidocaine cream barely covered with Saran Wrap as it leaked created messes. I knew I wanted to help people so I created Port Protect.

The challenges that came with the port preparation process inspired the development of a solution in the form of a new product, Port Protect, designed to significantly improve the treatment experience for chronically ill adults and children fighting a broad spectrum of diseases like cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (“COPD”), lupus, myasthenia gravis, neuropathy, chronic lymphocytic lymphoma, etc. – the list of diseases is endless.

Port Protect has been a huge blessing in my life. I no longer dread infusion preparation because I can quickly stick something over my chest port (that is made of a super comfortable material that is also hypo-allergenic for my skin), fill the opening with lidocaine, close the lid, and go. Not only am I protected from my seatbelt, bra strap (women get this!), or hugs – I no longer have messes on my shirt. Most importantly, I no longer feel pain when my nurses access my port because the lidocaine cream stays in place and does exactly what it’s supposed to do: numb my chest port!

Port-Protect has been a total game changer, and although I cannot say that I love my infusions, I love not feeling pain and love how easy port prep steps are now.

My hope is to help millions of chronically ill fighters like myself – both children and adults – who dread the current process to adequately numb the chest port to prepare for needle access. As someone who experiences pain and fatigue daily, I believe that anything – big or small – to improve our lives somehow goes a long way.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Physically, every day for me is a struggle. For most people, they can rate their pain on a scale of 1-10. My day starts at an 8 – on a good day. From this, I would suggest that waking up to run and grow Port Protect is an exercise in resilience. It is so hard to be sick in a world where you physically look normal. And it’s even harder to develop a first-to-world product while being sick. I’ve felt that I have learned so much through this process – not only from a business sense but also about myself. Sometimes I get down due to my health or experience a setback with the business and I continually remind myself why I am doing what I am doing which is to help patients like myself find a little bit of ease and relief in what is normally a pain-filled life. I know that no matter how bad I am feeling, there is another patient out there who needs my product in a moment when their life may have been turned upside down through an unexpected diagnosis or from caretaking a child with awful chronic diseases like cancer requiring chest ports and lumbar punctures.

Resilience is not about overcoming, but becoming. Becoming a new person, living with a chronic illness, becoming a businesswoman, learning about product design and manufacturing and becoming an entrepreneur to help others while helping myself grow out of being just defined as “chronically ill” and “disabled.” Launching and seeing the reaction to Port Protect has given me the confidence to know that I am on the right path to help others experiencing their own journey with illnesses.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

We’ve found that engaging directly with the patient is critical for our longterm success. As a new-to-world, new-to-market product, we see massive adoption when customers become aware of the product and can immediately have the “a-ha” moment of using Port Protect. Because we’re designed by the patient for the patient, we have found success in grassroots marketing efforts and focusing on the power of community both online and in-person. We’re also focusing on the clinical aspect of our product, growing and winning mindshare through trials with hospitals and interactions with key medical professionals. The next frontier for growth really lies in two places – broadening our horizon from an online perspective through SEO and digital advertising and then focusing on wide-scale distribution through ambulatory infusion clinics and medical distributors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.port-protect.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portprotect/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562662575059
• Other: TikTok:
  https://www.tiktok.com/@portprotect?_t=8pD88plJvgM&_r=1

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