Former UFC star and Olympic wrestler Ben Askren faces a devastating setback as his insurance company has reportedly refused to cover the costs of a life-saving double lung transplant. The wrestling legend, hospitalized since late May with a severe staph infection that destroyed his lung tissue, now faces astronomical medical bills.
Askren’s ordeal began May 30th in Las Vegas, where he was rushed to the hospital and placed on a breathing tube. The infection worsened quickly. His friend Mark Bader shared 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…'”
Askren was later flown to Wisconsin and placed on ECMO, a last-resort treatment where blood is oxygenated outside the body.
Doctors eventually determined Askren needed a double lung transplant to survive. The infection had eaten holes in his lungs, and recovery without new lungs would mean a life of ventilators and oxygen.
“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 shared.
Despite the urgent medical need, Askren’s insurance company denied coverage for the transplant.
“The insurance won’t cover the lung transplant and that’s extremely costly astronomical costs associated with that,” Bader revealed.
A nonprofit medical fund has been established for tax-deductible donations. Rudis is selling support shirts, donating 100% of proceeds.
“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,” Bader explained.
Askren has impacted countless athletes beyond his fight career. He mentored Parker Keckeisen, Keegan O’Toole, and Mitchell Mesenbrink, among others.
“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.
Askren is now awake and showing signs of personality: asking for coffee and wrestling results.
“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.
He’s high on the transplant list, but the family is waiting for the best match given his disciplined health history. A medical fund remains active while supporters work to keep one of wrestling’s most influential figures alive.
For a man who solved puzzles on the mat, Ben Askren now faces his toughest challenge—one only a united community might help him survive.
