Ben Askren in fight of his life.

[Royalclone]

I just read in the KC Star that Ben Askren is in the hospital with a serious bout of pneumonia. Doctors are even considering a lung transplant. While I wasn’t a fan of his when he was helping to make Mizzou an actual wrestling program, my prayers go out for his full recovery.

 

[Mead For My Horses]

Yeah, this has been going on a couple weeks. He came down with a bad infection when he was in Las Vegas. The Mizzou wrestling team/club came up with funds to have him transported back to Wisconsin. Rudis is selling tee shirts with all proceeds going to the family and there is another gofundme-like campaign going on. If I can find the links I will add.

I read his book and thought he added a lot to the Flo wrestling show when he was on it. A good guy with a good family, I think, and maybe the best youth coach in the country.

 

[Mead For My Horses]

Ben Askren - Support A Legend

RUDIS is the leading wrestling brand, built for those who live ALL IN. From elite wrestling gear and shoes to lifestyle apparel, RUDIS blends tradition, innovation, and grit. Premium products, on and off the wrestling mat. Designed for future champions. RUDIS is wrestling.

www.rudis.com

Prayers for Ben: Fundraising Campaign Launched in Honor of Ben Askren, Former MMA Champion

The community of former MMA champ and wrestler Ben Askren is fundraising with the trusted nonprofit Help Hope Live as he awaits a transplant.

helphopelive.org

 

[G-imJustafan]

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Ben Askren - Support A Legend

RUDIS is the leading wrestling brand, built for those who live ALL IN. From elite wrestling gear and shoes to lifestyle apparel, RUDIS blends tradition, innovation, and grit. Premium products, on and off the wrestling mat. Designed for future champions. RUDIS is wrestling.

www.rudis.com

Prayers for Ben: Fundraising Campaign Launched in Honor of Ben Askren, Former MMA Champion

The community of former MMA champ and wrestler Ben Askren is fundraising with the trusted nonprofit Help Hope Live as he awaits a transplant.

helphopelive.org

Seeing that picture of him and his family makes even tougher. Hope he makes it through this.

 

[cycloneman003]

Definitely worth a listen if you're interested and have the time.

Cliff notes of his current status seem to be... stable, sounds like still intubated nasally, will need double lung transplant and is on transplant list and at/near the top of the list (given relatively young age, great health, and condition of lungs).

Learned something new as well that you get "offered" the transplant organs when available and can accept/reject depending on the donor/condition/etc. Family as already turned down an option(s). So if he's already at the front of the line and in a position to reject possible options and be "picky" so to speak, then I'd assume that is a good thing in regards to the stability of his condition and relatively quick timeline for him to get a transplant and hopefully ont he road to recovery.

 

[crablegs]

Ben’s wife just reported that he has received a double lung transplant. This is great news and hopefully Ben is back to comment shortly.

 

[jkbuff98]

 

[CloneFanInKC]

IMO it crazy how "sick" or serious the situation was for him to require a double lung transplant!!!

FWIW i put quotes around SICK b/c to me its more serious than sick. My kids are sick today and are missing swim lessons. Someone needing a double organ transplant is more than sick.

@FriendlySpartan how does pneumonia and an infection result in lung transplants?

 

[CHim]

IMO it crazy how "sick" or serious the situation was for him to require a double lung transplant!!!

FWIW i put quotes around SICK b/c to me its more serious than sick. My kids are sick today and are missing swim lessons. Someone needing a double organ transplant is more than sick.

@FriendlySpartan how does pneumonia and an infection result in lung transplants?

I was wondering the same thing, especially with a guy that is above the norm/average from a health perspective. This isn't some 600 lb life scenario, dude has been an animal for years and this escalated so fast.

 

[Cylife]

The crazy part is they were going to pull the plug on him until some rich people stepped in to make the double lung transplant possible.

 

[clonedude]

The crazy part is they were going to pull the plug on him until some rich people stepped in to make the double lung transplant possible.

How are rich people able to do that?

 

[JEFF420]

How are rich people able to do that?

USA baby

 

[jkbuff98]

I was wondering the same thing, especially with a guy that is above the norm/average from a health perspective. This isn't some 600 lb life scenario, dude has been an animal for years and this escalated so fast.

Staph can be very nasty

 

[Cylife]

How are rich people able to do that?

Supposedly his insurance denied the double lung transplant so it was going to be an out of pocket cost.

 

[CloneFanInKC]

Supposedly his insurance denied the double lung transplant so it was going to be an out of pocket cost.

Health insurance companies are the only cog in the US Healthcare wheel that are not experiencing negative circumstances annually.

Rural hospitals are closing; resulting in patients not receiving the care they need or having to travel exponentially farther for the care. Physicians and care sites annually receive less reimbursee from private payers.

Meanwhile, name the last time your health insurance premium decreased or an insurance company went bankrupt.

 

[clonedude]

So the lungs were available then.. it was just a cost issue.

 

[Cyowa 14]

The crazy part is they were going to pull the plug on him until some rich people stepped in to make the double lung transplant possible.

I am a huge Ben fan, I've always loved how he has bucked traditional trends in wrestling and made funky/scrambling a cool thing to do. As a father of a young kid in wrestling I've also appreciated his outspokeness, if that's a word, of how bad weight cutting is for youngsters all the way up to high school. His exact quote is "cutting weight is a short cut, get better at wrestling." Hopefully he makes a full recovery and can get back to coaching soon.

On a side note, I don't mean this to sound insensitive but as I've followed this for the last couple weeks I've been stunned with what the askrens have had to ask for money wise. I always just assumed that ben was pretty well off. I don't mean it as a shot on them just more of a realization of how costly healthcare/surgeries can be if health insurance doesn't cooperate

 

[Newguyhere]

The crazy part is they were going to pull the plug on him until some rich people stepped in to make the double lung transplant possible.

The surgery was happening regardless. A medical fund was setup. His family was never gonna pull the plug .