Registered nurse Kurt Schroeder ‘befriends everyone’
When contemplating his work as a research nurse, Pearland resident Kurt Schroeder conjures up a parable about starfish.
In the story, Schroeder recalls, a man walks onto a beach littered with hundreds of starfish and sees another person throwing them back into the water one by one, trying to save their lives.
The first man tells the second that he isn’t making much of an impact. “But the other man replies that he made a difference for that one,” Schroeder said.
“That’s the way I think,” said Schroeder, who works with patients in the leukemia department at MD Anderson. “It doesn’t work for everyone, but you can make a difference for someone — and it could lead to a cure for something.”
Schroeder specifically helps individuals with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), a blood cancer that causes the body to make too many white or red blood cells. These patients can live for a number of years, and finding the best possible treatment is at the heart of Schroeder’s work.
As a registered nurse who is also a research nurse, he collaborates with physicians to work on studies and interact with patients. He is also tasked with understanding the protocol and requirements of clinical trials, and finding and screening ideal patients to match the studies.
“You do the protocol-required assessments, you set up the testing and visits with the patients,” Schroeder said. He gives participants his private cellphone number, in case they need to reach him before they come into the hospital.
Sometimes, patients will have a noticeable improvement with a trial drug. Other times, there is nothing to report.
Regardless, Schroeder takes comfort when a patient improves or when he can discover important information.
“You get to see the changes in people, the benefits,” he said.
He points to the treatment of myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer, and treatments with the medication Jakafi.
“Patients were just wasting away from the symptoms of their disease,” Schroeder said. “Then, you test Jakafi. It doesn’t fix what’s wrong, but it makes it manageable. They look normal again. It’s like flipping a switch.”
Through his experiences at MD Anderson, Schroeder said he has been fortunate to see advances that new drugs are making. “Now, they have much more targeted treatments with fewer side effects,” he said. “And every year, it’s getting better and better.”
Schroeder said being a research nurse is an ideal job because he likes working with people and finds the works stimulating and challenging.
Schroeder is originally from Iowa. In 1985, at only 17 years old, he joined the Army National Guard.
“I had to get my parents to sign off because I was still a minor,” he recalled with a laugh. “My dad asked, ‘Are you sure?’ ”
He was.
Schroeder went to boot camp between his junior and senior year of high school. After graduating, he joined advanced training, then the infantry.
While serving, Schroeder tried a variety of jobs. At first, he worked at a meat-packing house, then as a mechanic and finally in construction. Whenever time came for a two-week vacation, Schroeder would take one week for himself and dedicate the second to the Army National
Guard.
Finally, his aunt who was a nurse encouraged him to take a different route — following in her footsteps. Schroeder enrolled in a hospital-based nursing school at age 23. Unlike a technical program, he explained, training was constant at the hospital, and he immediately began assisting nurses.
“We got a lot of hands-on experience,” he said.
There were a number of times when he felt out of his comfort zone, Schroeder admitted, and being a male nurse was fairly rare at the time. Still, he enjoyed the work and wanted to help people. He also found that his experience in other jobs helped him translate medical problems into layman’s terms.
After becoming a registered nurse, Schroeder worked in a series of nursing homes, eventually moving to Texas in 1998.
Some of the nurses he served alongside in the past started working at MD Anderson and suggested that he consider the hospital as well. In 2007, Schroeder was hired in the leukemia department. “It’s a way different job than working on the floor,” he said.
But it’s one he never wants to leave.
He says that he is constantly inspired by the physicians he works alongside. “You look up the doctors here, and these are pretty much the people you want to come talk to,” he said. “The guys that work in Houston are top of the line.”
Schroeder was recently honored with the 2019 MPN Heroes award, given to those who make a difference for people living with myeloproliferative neoplasms by Incyte Corporation CURE magazine. The award is given each year to eight individuals.
While grateful for the honor, Schroeder maintains that he wasn’t doing anything special. “I just think I’m doing my job,” he said.
Dr. Srdan Verstovsek, oncologist and professor in the leukemia department at MD Anderson, begs to differ. He has been working with Schroeder for two decades.
“He’s an amazing guy,” Verstovsek said. “He befriends everyone and takes care of everyone as a family member.”
And by everyone, Verstovsek explained, he means patients, doctors and nurses alike.
“We are talking about a chronic condition that affects quality of life,” Verstovsek said. “A lot needs to be done. You engage with your patients forever. There’s no cure.”
Schroeder provides that type of care. “He delivers compassion,” Verstovsek said. “Anything you need, Kurt is there.”