Finding the right team: Broqsten travels across Florida for Expert Brain Tumor Surgery at TGH
Broqsten loves the outdoors. He fondly recalls growing up on a lake in Indiana and, as an adult, loves visiting state parks. But since the age of 6, Broqsten has faced one medical challenge after another.
It started with a rash and fever that wouldn’t go away. What his family thought were spider bites turned out to be leukemia. He spent several of his elementary school years not in a classroom but in a hospital bed. Luckily, his younger brother was an exact match, donating stem cells for a bone marrow transplant that helped him fight the cancer. But when the leukemia returned, doctors in Indiana gave him less than a 5 percent chance of survival — until they found a radiation therapy clinical trial. That radiation saved his life, but also quietly set the stage for what was to come.
Years went by and Broqsten thought he was out of the woods. Then in 2019, living in the West Palm Beach area, he noticed an unusual bump on his head. Doctors confirmed it was a radiation-induced multiple meningiomas, a rare consequence of the total-body radiation he received as a child. Surgeons in West Palm Beach removed it. Then, on Christmas Day in 2025, his mother noticed a bump on the back of his neck.
A few weeks later, an MRI confirmed the worst: a 7.5-centimeter meningioma, a Grade 2 tumor with the potential to affect his hearing, brain blood flow, speech, balance and cognitive ability. And left untreated, it could press dangerously on his brain and cause paralysis or death.
“After speaking with my doctor on the East Coast, I knew this meningioma was severe,” Broqsten said. “They told me I needed advanced neurosurgical care at a center like Tampa General Hospital, and specifically recommended Dr. van Loveren, so I wasted no time and headed across the state to TGH.”
The complexity of the case called for a specialist of exceptional skill, and Dr. Harry van Loveren took on the challenge.
“Cases like Broqsten’s require not just technical precision, but a team that understands what the patient has already been through,” said Dr. van Loveren, vice president and chief of Brain and Spine at the TGH Neuroscience Institute and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, Brain and Spine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “We approach every complex surgery with a clear goal: Give the patient the best possible outcome and the best possible life afterward.”
“When I received the diagnosis, I never saw it as a death sentence,” Broqsten said. “My faith in Jesus gave me an overwhelming sense of peace, and I believed the medical professionals caring for me would be guided every step of the way as I focused on healing and recovery."
Surgery and Recovery
In June 2026, Dr. van Loveren and his multidisciplinary teams, including neurosurgery, neuro-otology, neuro-anesthesia and neuroplastic surgery, performed a 10-hour procedure to remove the tumor. A few days later, surgeons placed a shunt to manage fluid on the brain. Broqsten spent 11 days in the ICU, treated by the specialized neurocritical care team.
“The team at Tampa General never made me feel like just another case,” Broqsten said. “Every person who walked into that room, from the surgeons to the nurses, took the time to explain what was happening and why. Now, just a few months after surgery, I feel sharper than I have in years. I didn't even realize how much brain fog I had been living with until it was gone."
Broqsten returned to his home on the East Coast shortly after surgery. He and his wife are planning their next road trip and settling back into normal life. He has even returned to the work he loves: building custom stairways and railings for homes. While he says he’s a bit of an artist when it comes to his own work, not a day goes by that he doesn’t appreciate the expertise and craftsmanship of his own medical team.
“I want people who get a diagnosis like mine to know that there is hope,” Broqsten said. “Find the right team — don't settle. The right doctors make all the difference.”
Dr. van Loveren echoed that message: “Broqsten’s resilience is remarkable. Our job was to match that resilience with the best care we could offer, and that is exactly what this team did.”