‘I can only think forward’: Inside Ben Askren’s miraculous recovery from a double lung transplant

The former MMA champion, Ben Askren, acclimated to a new standard since he overcome the fear of summer health which almost took his life and resulted in a double heartbreaking pulmonary transplantation.

In July, the legend of the 41 -year -old struggle was re -moved following an prolonged hospital stay which began at the end of May and led to Askren’s medical sedation for more than a month. A significantly emaciated Askren spoke emotionally about the health battle he had crossed and how he described as “severe pneumonia” had almost killed him several times before the double rescue transplant.

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But against all odds, Askren took place. The former competitor of the UFC was released from the hospital on July 22, and during the Monday edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show”, a much healthier aspect – although always very on healing – took off the curtain on its transformative saga.

“I obviously gained weight,” Askren told without crown. “The lowest weight I had was 138 [pounds]I’m probably 25 years older than that now. Pose weight was difficult. At first, all the food had a taste for S ***. Then, even after he stopped tasting like S ***, I thought it was fine, so I didn’t want it. Just deal with problems like that. Food is finally starting to look good and have good taste, so it is much easier to gain weight. “”

Askren said the doctors had discussed his health problems as a “necrotizing pneumonia”, a rare but serious version of the disease that destroys the lungs. The typical effects of the disease were not even where it started. Askren explained that he had initially started to feel a little harm earlier this year in a place on the right side of the lower back, and rejected it as nothing more than a rear spasm. It was not abnormal-he had approximately five throughout his career as a competitor in various combat sports, he said.

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During a party at the pool at the beginning of the summer, Askren remembers that his back was starting to pass out with pain, which led him to ask for chiropractic care. It helped for a while, and reaffirmed the former champion that he didActually, Have a rear spasm – in addition to the more serious condition. Askren and his wife, Amy, then stole for Las Vegas for a Bitcoin conference at the end of May, where pain became too severe to be ignored.

He went to the hospital on May 30 and was full of medication, but a day later, things are only getting worse.

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“I was really rough. I went to the hospital – I remember entering, I don’t remember anything else,” said Askren.

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“I am stubborn. I always think I’m fine, and honestly, for the rest of my life, it worked well for me. But I did not fight [going to the hospital in Las Vegas] as hard. Unconsciously, maybe I knew something was wrong and I didn’t want to admit it. Because if I want to fight something hard, I’m not going to do it. It often happens in my life. So I think that maybe unconsciously I knew that something was wrong, and I just didn’t want to admit it, and I was really excited by many speakers at the Bitcoin conference, and I can face pain.

“If [Amy] Weren’t there, I don’t know I would have gone. I should probably have passed out or something first. “”

In addition to back pain, Askren felt, he also faced a staphylococcus infection on his elbow. His best efforts were not enough, he said, and that is what caused necrotizing pneumonia.

“According to my experience before that, you don’t need antibiotics for each staphylococcus,” said Askren. “I took a shower well, I cleaned it, I used antibacterials and all this kind of thing, and it disappeared. Then, a few days later, it clears up, it seems that everything is healed – but they say that it has somehow entered my blood circulation. I am not a doctor, I do not know how it works.

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“At first, they thought they could make high doses of antibiotics, [but] It kept worsening, worse. Essentially, I was on a whole bunch of machines to keep myself alive. Then they realized that the only way I was going to stay alive was if I had a pulmonary transplant. So when I woke up, I had two new lungs. “”

Askren’s wife has provided several updates throughout the process and has managed everything linked to him to ensure successful transplant surgery. It did not occur without several fear, however.

Askren noted that his heart had stopped several times during his incapacity period, sometimes up to 20 seconds. Askren was unconscious throughout his hospital stay until his double pulmonary transplantation, which he supposes, took a long time, although he was not aware of his exact length.

“They said they had to scratch my previous lungs from my chest cavity, which seems horrible,” he said. “They cut me directly [the chest] And they open it, which seems horrible. “”

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A former Bellator and a championship champion, Askren retired from MMA in 2019 after a race of three fights in the UFC. “Funky” was undefeated and widely considered one of the best wrestlers to have ever laced a pair of four ounce gloves before his arrival in the promotion of the same year. Although his first career defeat against Jorge Masvidal was historically devastating – a flying sequence of the five -second knee which remains the fastest knock -out in the history of the UFC – Askren managed it in the aftermath.

A return of the MMA has never necessarily been in the cards for Askren – an essential hip surgery in 2020 assured that – but he had resulted and taught the fight before his illness. He was in good condition for him to participate in the first show by Real American Freestyle on August 30.

Unfortunately, Askren expects that he has already experienced his last chance to compete in any title.

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“I was really excited to fight, and now it’s sad because I will probably never come back,” said Askren. “They didn’t say no for sure, but it’s probably unlikely, I suppose.”

Askren’s road to a complete recovery should be long, and the one he does not expect to bring back to the life he had before. He noted that he did not take medication regularly in advance and now has to take nearly 40 pills per day. This number can decrease over time, he said, but it will never come back to zero.

Although he is able to walk again and get involved in more regular life activities almost two months after his surgery, Askren is still limited. He said he couldn’t be very active and that physically remarks are easier. It is not even supposed to be with people for long periods, he said, because the risk of infection by pulmonary transplants is particularly high. During his free time, Askren said he was busy reading books and rekindling his baseball fandom, watching the Milwaukee Brewers race at the MLB qualifiers with his children.

In truth, none would criticize the unique Olympian to be broken in the discharges with the way in which his life changed in 2025, and he admits to having weaknesses in the past few months. However, Askren’s global perspectives have remained remarkably positive and prospective. This is how he has always been, he said.

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“I had a problem where I can only think,” he said. “Dude, even during all this time, it’s been 12 weeks since surgery, so probably a little less than 12 weeks since I have been aware in this direction, but I have not inspired it at all. Some days, when I really want to do that, I am like,” Ah guy, I can’t do that today. will cause complications.

“I haven’t looked back much. It’s just like” ok, here is where I am, and I have to work from this point. “And one of the things I always stressed for my wrestlers – and maybe I did it up to the brain – is that anxiety and stress in people are generally caused by the things they cannot control.