Former UFC star and Olympic wrestling champion Ben Askren has successfully received a double lung transplant after a harrowing battle with a life-threatening staph infection that began just five weeks ago.
The wrestling legend’s wife, Amy Askren, announced the milestone on social media, expressing profound gratitude to the donor and their family. “We are so thankful to share that Ben has received a double lung transplant. We are forever thankful to the donor and his family,” she wrote. “This is the beginning of a new lifestyle for Ben, but every new day he has is a gift.”
Askren’s medical crisis began suddenly on May 30th in Las Vegas, where he was rushed to the hospital and placed on a breathing tube. The severity of his condition became clear when his friend Mark Bader shared the devastating news during his show: “Saturday, I got a message from my friend Rye… he got a message from Amy, Ben’s wife, that, ‘Hey, things went south. We’re in the hospital. Ben’s on a ventilator…'”
The infection rapidly deteriorated Askren’s lungs, eating holes in the tissue and requiring him to be flown to Wisconsin for advanced treatment. Doctors placed him on ECMO, a last-resort procedure where blood is oxygenated outside the body. Medical professionals ultimately determined that without new lungs, Askren would face a lifetime tethered to ventilators and oxygen equipment.
“His wife Amy, his brother Max, and his mom met with the doctors… they basically was like look it there’s a chance we could do this without the transplant but he would need to be on oxygen and during the day and the ventilator at night and any of us that know Ben like that’s not an option,” Bader explained.
The path to transplant was complicated by insurance challenges, as Askren’s coverage initially denied the procedure despite its medical necessity. “The insurance won’t cover the lung transplant and that’s extremely costly astronomical costs associated with that,” Bader revealed at the time.
The wrestling community rallied around their champion, establishing a nonprofit medical fund and organizing fundraising efforts. Bader emphasized that Askren’s financial situation reflected his commitment to the sport rather than reckless spending: “I don’t want people to think that Ben was this fighter who made this money and has blown it… the money that this guy’s made is like tied up, invested back into the sport… it’s in his businesses, it’s in his building, it’s in the former wrestlers he’s hiring.”
Throughout his career, Askren has mentored numerous athletes, including Parker Keckeisen, Keegan O’Toole, and Mitchell Mesenbrink. “The amount of lives that Ben has impacted is seemingly immeasurable… not just the amount of lives he’s impacted, but the amount of impact he’s had on all these different lives,” Bader noted.
During his hospitalization, Askren showed encouraging signs of recovery, with his personality beginning to emerge. “He asked for coffee and wrestling results… it sounds like he was, you know, rolled his eyes at something made a face at something he would make a face at. So like he’s his personality back a little bit,” Bader shared.
Amy Askren reflected on how quickly life can change, noting that her husband was completely healthy just weeks before his transplant. “It still doesn’t feel real that he was walking around completely healthy just 5 weeks ago. So much can change so quickly,” she wrote.
The successful transplant marks the beginning of a new chapter for Askren, who now faces the challenge of recovery and adapting to life with new lungs. His wife requested continued prayers “that his body welcomes the new lungs as if they were his own” and expressed hope that Ben himself would soon be able to provide updates on his progress.
