Ben Askren revisited his harrowing experience of waking up from a coma after a severe lung infection almost killed him.
Over a year ago in late May, Askren contracted a staph infection that went on to affect his lungs. His health began declining rapidly, and he was eventually diagnosed with necrotizing pneumonia, where his lungs were eating themselves.
In a coma and placed on a ventilator, Askren remained unconscious for over 40 days. A double-lung transplant eventually saved the former UFC star, and his rough road to recovery began.
In the early videos shared by his wife Amy, Ben looked beyond recognition, given how much weight he had lost.
A year later, Askren stands as a testament to sheer will and one of the most remarkable comeback stories from a near-death experience. Detailing the same in a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson on his Mighty15x channel, here is what the 42-year-old had to say:
I got a little cut on my elbow, it was staph. You get a little cut, maybe gets a little bit infected, but you wash it with soap, and you put some anti-bacterial on there, and it goes away. So I had a cut, got infected, clean it up, goes away, I didn’t really think much of it, and then a day or two later, my back started hurting, and I thought, ‘Hey, this is a muscle spasm…
However, it was more sinister than what Askren had thought. Things only got worse for him from there:
That night I was up all night, wasn’t sleeping, and at some point I fell asleep. I didn’t fall asleep until the middle of the night because I was in pain. When I woke up my wife was like, ‘Hey we’re going to the hospital.’..I appeased her and I went to the hospital, and when I walked into the hospital door, I don’t remember anything…
Askren then shed light on how he was in a coma for 40 days. He added:
I go in the door and it’s black, it’s black for roughly 40 days, it’s nothing. What had happened was the staph had somehow gotten into my bloodstream, from there it decided to attack my lungs, the pain I was feeling was my lungs eating themselves. It’s called necrotizing pneumonia, that was the pain I was feeling all those days, and I went into a coma pretty much right away…
Check out Ben Askren’s comments below:
Ben Askren fought Three Times in the UFC
Ben Askren made his UFC debut when he was almost 35. He took on Robbie Lawler at UFC 235, and earned a technical submission win in the very first round, where he himself had earlier almost been finished.
Next came his infamous fight against Jorge Masvidal that ended in just 5 seconds. ‘Funky’ was knocked out by a flying knee from ‘Gamebred’ in no time at UFC 239.
Askren’s hopes of bouncing back from the devastating loss were dashed by Demian Maia, who submitted him in the third round later that year, in 2019. Askren retired with a record of 19-2 (1 NC).
