Opinion|Articles|September 7, 2026

The Nurse Who Got Me Through CAR-T Cell Therapy for Myeloma

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Key Takeaways

Care coordination included scheduling, presence at multidisciplinary visits, and post-visit teach-back to confirm understanding of disease status, therapeutic rationale, and next steps.
Therapy planning shifted from intended autologous transplant to CAR-T; detailed counseling helped align expectations and mitigate anxiety during a high-stakes change in treatment strategy.
Insurance advocacy, including appeal support after initial denial, was integral to securing CAR-T access and maintaining continuity of care.
Post–CAR-T toxicity and subsequent rehospitalizations were managed with rapid triage communication, consistent callback reliability, and guidance that enabled the patient to focus on recovery.
Survivorship support extended beyond formal case-management, including attendance at the one-year assessment and ongoing personal outreach acknowledging response durability and identity beyond cancer.

My multiple myeloma nurse case manager sat in on every appointment, helped me appeal an insurance denial and made sure I never felt like just a number.

I am nominating nurse Jennifer Schmidt from the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center at the Nebraska Medical Center. Nurse Jenny was my multiple myeloma nurse case manager from when I was first seen at the cancer center in May 2024 until my 100-day post-CAR-T cell therapy appointment in February 2025. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her.

Not only did she take care of scheduling all my appointments, but she was also at all of my appointments with the different doctors to make sure that I understood everything. She would stay in the room after the doctors left, answering any questions that I had and making sure that I left feeling comfortable and knowledgeable about my care and my disease.

I was originally supposed to get a stem cell transplant to treat the multiple myeloma, but that didn't end up working out and I was switched to CAR-T cell therapy. Nurse Jenny made sure that I fully understood why I had to change therapies and what it meant for me. When insurance first denied the CAR-T cell therapy, Nurse Jenny helped me to fight to get it covered. She never treated me as just another patient, but as an individual who was terrified of her diagnosis and needed to understand it and have hope.

After my initial hospitalization for the CAR-T cell therapy, I had multiple complications and ended up being hospitalized two more times. Nurse Jenny was always my first call for any questions or concerns. If she didn't answer the phone, she always called me back quickly. I always felt that I was in good hands and could concentrate on healing.

Being diagnosed with cancer, especially when it was so unexpected and out of the blue, is terrifying and traumatizing. Nurse Jenny is one of the people that helped me navigate my diagnosis and take a lot of terror out of it. To be treated as a human and not just a number is so vitally important to fight cancer. Nurse Jenny took the time to not just check in on my health, but also me as a person, my life outside of my diagnosis. Cancer does not and will not ever define me, and Nurse Jenny helped me to see this. I have so much to live for.

Even though she was no longer my nurse case manager after my 100-day post-CAR-T appointment, Nurse Jenny made sure to come to my one-year post-CAR-T appointment in October 2025, to check in and congratulate me on my successful response to treatment. My first Christmas card this year came from Nurse Jenny. The world can be a scary place with some scary people, but I was blessed when I got Nurse Jennifer Schmidt as my nurse.

This nomination reflects the nominator's personal experience and perspective. CURE® does not endorse or evaluate individual nominees, and submissions are not influenced by any commercial or professional affiliation.

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