Ben Askren in fight of his life.
- Thread starter Royalclone
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His stepmom is related to my dad as 2nd cousins I believe. I photographed their wedding (his dads) in Wisconsin back in 2019. Saw Ben, played against him in bags, but never personally visited with him. Crazy thing is I didn't even hear about this news until recently. So I am glad he's recovering and it went well.
Yeah, that was tough!
Between the emotional challenge and the adaption of two new lungs; it’s hard for him to breath and talk simultaneously.
@FriendlySpartan or anyone else, how did he get to this point?
Sorry I didn’t see the original tag. I don’t know the case but based on the info posted here he most likely developed a severe case of pulmonary fibrosis and his lungs got so much scaring tissue they couldn’t function correctly.
I’d imagine it’s bacterial pneumonia that he didn’t treat fast enough or was incredibly aggressive. I don’t know the timing of the staph infection in relation to the pneumonia diagnosis but fighting off multiple infections is very difficult on your body and depending on the type might have conflicting treatments. It’s also possible that it was antibiotic resistant staph but I think they would have said something.
Once that scaring is done there isn’t a lot you can do but get a transplant. Once he’s intubated and the infection is under control he’s at minimal risk of death at that point you’re just waiting for a transplant. However due to the intubation, being hooked up to high O2, infection, etc he’s gonna drop the weight you see. Muscles with atrophy, appetite is probably zero, sleep is difficult then you add the mental battle
Thank you for the insight.
Sad situation and I’m stating that as an ISU fan that couldn’t stand the guy while he was as Mizzou but I extremely respect what he did for that program and the sport.
Post his competition days for Mizzou; I feel he has done a lot for the sport.
He’s younger than me and can’t imagine what his family is going through.
#GodSpeedBen
Want to address the transplant questions/comments as well.
First: you can’t pull the plug on someone with his condition as it’s illegal. A big part of our healthcare systems flaws is that all states don’t have death with dignity laws.
Second: there are some ways around the cost but organ transplant surgery is about as expensive as it gets. With transplants you pay for the whole process from the team that procures the organ to the transportation of said organ to the team that actually does the transplant. Add in the cost of the immunosuppressant meds that are insanely expensive on their own and you get massive fees.
Third: while the money pays the bills money doesn’t help you move up the transplant list here in the US. In other countries money 100% makes the difference.
Finally, please make sure your license is checked to approve for organ donation. Saves a lot of very uncomfortable conversations
First: you can’t pull the plug on someone with his condition as it’s illegal. A big part of our healthcare systems flaws is that all states don’t have death with dignity laws.
Second: there are some ways around the cost but organ transplant surgery is about as expensive as it gets. With transplants you pay for the whole process from the team that procures the organ to the transportation of said organ to the team that actually does the transplant. Add in the cost of the immunosuppressant meds that are insanely expensive on their own and you get massive fees.
Third: while the money pays the bills money doesn’t help you move up the transplant list here in the US. In other countries money 100% makes the difference.
Finally, please make sure your license is checked to approve for organ donation. Saves a lot of very uncomfortable conversations
Makes sense staph can lead to pneumonia, staph is also pretty common in the hospital so wouldn’t have surprised me the other way around either but good to know
I believe he had suffered what was described as a minor rib injury that led to the staph infection and then progressed to the very aggressive pneumonia.
That’s kinda weird, staph needs an opening, must have had a cut or abrasion on that rib injury for that to be the delivery mechanism
Oh damn, so then the staph could have been in catalyst. That’s pretty rare to get, usually has a coexisting health problem with that as well beforehand.
Could have been unrelated , just happened close together .
I've appreciated many of your post over the years. This one as much or more than any. Especially the final paragraph.
