Former Mizzou star Askren released from hospital following double lung transplant
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ben Askren released from hospital after June double lung transplant surgery.
- Askren battled severe pneumonia since May; surgery followed rapid decline.
- Mizzou teammates and supporters provided key support during recovery.
Former Mizzou wrestling star Ben Askren has been released from the hospital following a multi-month battle with pneumonia that resulted in a double lung transplant.
Askren was hospitalized at the end of May due to a serious bout with pneumonia. He was added to the lung transplant list as his health condition continued to decline. Askren underwent a double lung transplant surgery on June 30, only days after being added to the list.
In Askren’s first video update, shared July 9 from his hospital bed, he said he was regaining strength but had no recollection of what had happened from May 28 to July 2. His most recent update, posted Tuesday, July 22, shows him in the passenger seat of a car with his wife, heading home from the hospital.
“That was a long journey,” Askren says in that video. “And it’s not over because I still can’t really walk. I need to reteach myself to do that among many other things.”
Askren jokes with his wife, Amy, asking her how close he was to dying. “Too close,” she replies.
“The support you guys gave me whether it was helping my kids and wife get through it, I had friends come from all over the country to just hang out for a couple of days,” Askren said. “It meant so much.”
Despite being more than two decades removed from this time at Mizzou, Askren has remained highly involved with the team and connected with his former teammates — many of whom showed up to support him and his family.
Askren won the Mizzou wrestling program’s first national title as a junior and added a second during his senior year. By the end of his collegiate career, he boasted a long list of achievements that included being a two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner and three-time conference champion, as well as becoming Mizzou’s first four-time all-American.
He also went on to become a professional MMA fighter after college.
