Speaker
Ben Askren
Appearances over time
1 episodes
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1
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Quotes & moments
Ben Askren was unconscious for approximately 37 days after being admitted to hospital with what he thought was a back spasm.
Patients placed on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) have only about a 40% chance of surviving to come off the machine.
Ben Askren lost approximately 60 pounds — mostly muscle — while unconscious in hospital, dropping from around 195 lbs to 138 lbs.
Ben Askren's lowest recorded weight during hospitalisation was 138 lbs, compared to a fighting weight of 170 lbs and a walking weight of around 195 lbs in retirement.
Ben Askren spent approximately 73 days in hospital across his entire ordeal, making him a significantly more acute case than many routine transplant patients.
The median life expectancy after a double lung transplant is only 6.5 years, though Ben believes this statistic does not apply to him given his prior health.
The longest living person post double lung transplant has survived 38 years, and Ben Askren has set a goal of surpassing 39 years.
Ben Askren went 87 matches undefeated in his final two years of college wrestling, a streak he maintained by never thinking about it.
After 7 years of perfect progression in MMA, a fighter's first year in the UFC might gross only $80,000, netting as little as $27,000 after expenses in California.
With roughly 1 million wrestlers in America and only 10 NCAA champions per year, a Division I NCAA champion represents approximately the 99.999th percentile.
Ben Askren used ChatGPT heavily to research his medical condition after waking from the transplant, estimating it was accurate 70–80% of the time when cross-referenced with his doctor.
Ben Askren and his brother run 9 wrestling academies across the state of Wisconsin through Aspen Wrestling Academy.
Ben Askren did not begin walking on his own until approximately 2 months after waking from his transplant, starting with just a few steps at a time.
László Polgár raised three daughters who became three of the five highest-rated chess players of all time, having predicted this before they were born.
Ben Askren walked into a hospital thinking he had a back spasm and woke up 37 days later with someone else's lungs. A staph infection on his elbow had entered his bloodstream, triggered necrotising pneumonia, and caused his body to eat his lungs from the inside out.
Ben Askren woke up in the dark, alone, unable to speak, having no idea why he was in a hospital. A nurse told him he'd had a double lung transplant. His wife arrived in the morning with a day-by-day journal of everything that had happened while he was unconscious.
By the time surgeons opened Ben Askren's chest, his dead lung tissue had essentially glued itself to his rib cage. The surgeon said it was the worst lung transplant she had ever performed — she had to scrape the old lungs off the inside of his chest cavity before the new ones could go in.
Ben Askren credits his athletic career with giving him exactly the mental tools he needed to recover. Even on days he felt terrible post-transplant, he refused to skip his breathing exercises, physical therapy, and workouts — the same discipline he'd built over decades in wrestling and MMA.
Ben Askren walked through the brutal economics of MMA: even after 7 flawless years of progression, a UFC fighter in their first year might gross $80,000 and take home as little as $27,000 after gym fees, management, and taxes. He only ever recommended it to two people — and only because they genuinely wanted to fight.
Ben Askren flatly denies that talent exists. His argument: you can't test talent at birth because every child arrives with different environmental inputs, and the Polgár sisters — three of the five highest-rated chess players of all time — were engineered from before conception by a father who wanted to prove exactly this point.
Ben Askren argues wrestling is the greatest character-building activity on earth. There's no bench to hide on — if someone's better than you, they will physically demonstrate it. The sport forces humility, self-reliance, discipline, and perseverance in a way no team sport can replicate.
Ben Askren went 87 matches undefeated in college. His secret? He never thought about it. His research with a sports psychology PhD found the same pattern across 50 years of NCAA champions: they universally rejected the premise of the question 'when did you go from good to great?', saying they never considered themselves great at all.
The longest surviving double lung transplant patient lived 38 years. Ben Askren's goal is 39 — which would make him 80. And if stem cell technology for growing personalised organs matures in the next 15–20 years, he's already told his doctor he'll volunteer to be first in line for a second transplant.
Ben Askren's lowest weight during hospitalisation was 138 pounds — down from a retirement walking weight of around 195 pounds. He lost roughly 60 pounds, almost entirely muscle, while paralysed and strapped to a hospital bed for over a month.
Ben Askren says that nearly dying didn't reveal that his priorities were wrong — they were already good. What it did was amplify the right things: more patience, more gratitude, deeper faith, and a sharper filter for what deserves his time. He now asks of every opportunity: is this worth time away from my family?
When Ben was flown back to Milwaukee on June 6th last year, doctors had to fully paralyse him for transport. On arrival, they put him on ECMO — a machine that only about 40% of patients come off alive. Ben made it. Most don't.
The median life expectancy after a double lung transplant is just 6.5 years. Ben Askren rejects this as his benchmark — pointing out that most transplant recipients are elderly and unwell, not ex-professional athletes who were in peak health when disaster struck. His goal is 39 years.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 37%
- Sports 27%
- Health & Fitness 18%
- Education 9%
- Religion & Spirituality 9%
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