Former fighter Ben Askren may not have won a title during his stint in the UFC, but he has now become an inspiration for people from all walks of life. After battling pneumonia, which led him to get a double-lung transplant, ‘Funky’s attitude has remained positive after he regained consciousness. “Getting a second chance on life, it’s going to be interesting. I’ve always tried to make the most of life, and I’m going to continue to try to do that.” However, the experience of going through that period is quite hair-raising, as Askren came clean about it during a recent interview.

Ben Askren spent 59 days in medical care, with 45 days being in a coma. He revealed that there were a lot of complications when his family was working to get him treated. Apart from issues with his insurance company, he had to be carried away from Las Vegas within a week of being hospitalized due to the lack of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines, or ECMO, in simple terms. This machine was crucial for Askren’s survival.

“I don’t remember if I was awake… that’s like a 30-someday period that we’re talking about… After… maybe six days or something, I believe they flew me back here to the freighter. I was on a medical flight because they didn’t have ECMO that keeps you alive,” Ben Askren told FloWrestling. “They didn’t have great ECMO in [Las] Vegas. So we got a med flight back here. They had to have me on two ECMO machines to keep me alive.”

Thereafter, the former UFC fighter also mentioned the scenes after he woke up from his coma. Understandably, he had no idea about the date, nor was he able to comprehend the reason behind his hospitalization. Askren tried to revisit the recent events as much as he could, thinking about the worst things that he could have been involved in. But in the end, he was eventually informed about his transplant and the serious battle he was in.

“It was at night. So, there was no one else in my room and I was like, ‘Oh s—! How did I get here?’… Then, in my head, I tried going through all the things that we’ve done. I had no idea what day it was, right? So, I tried to go through all the things in my head that we had done,” Ben Askren further stated.

“My first worry was, ‘Holy f—! I didn’t do something dumb and crash a car or something, did I?’ That was like my first intuition… It took me a long time, and eventually, I’m like, ‘Well, I remember going to the hospital.’ I don’t remember anything after that… Obviously, I think, at some point, a nurse came in or maybe next morning, Amy came in and filled me in on what happened.”

But that’s not the only scary thing that happened. The worst scare came to his family, who, at certain points, thought the worst might have happened. But Ben Askren stayed strong and made it all the way through. Here’s what he had to say.

Ben Askren’s family thought they had lost him on multiple occasions

Waking up and not knowing why he was in the hospital is hardly the most harrowing thing that happened to Ben Askren. He actually cheated death many times during his time in the hospital. The former fighter previously mentioned that he died a staggering “four times,” which was quite a scary revelation for his fans, who were cheering and praying for his well-being.

As we all know, his wife, Amy Askren, was constantly sharing as many updates as she could when Ben Askren was getting treated. But during that period, he mentioned how tense the situation was with his family, who thought that he had died. Claiming that might have been an option, but Askren is happy to be able to find a way out and survive after getting the lung transplant. “There were multiple times where they thought I was dead. It’s like, ‘Well, that was the other option.’ I’ll take this one,” he added.

Ben Askren and his family had to go through a lot due to an untreated staph infection, which was reported to be the reason behind the whole medical issue. Thankfully, he’s recovering now, and what’s good news for Askren is that the entire community is behind him in wishing him a speedy recovery. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.