BEN ASKREN felt like he “left Earth for 40 days” when he was hospitalised with a severe case of pneumonia.
The former UFC welterweight was hospitalised last June with a horror case of pneumonia, which stemmed from a staph infection.
He was placed in a medically induced coma before successfully having a double lung transplant.
Askren was in the coma for 45 days, a period of time he’s likened to not being alive.
He told TMZ: “I kind of died once, you know, like for all intents and purposes, left Earth for 40 days.
“I had no real communication to anyone. I had no recollection of anything.
‘So I get to kind of reflect on like, ‘Okay, had I not woken back up?
“How do I feel about what I did prior to this time?”
Askren has already made great strides in his long and arduous road to recovery and is slowly but surely putting back on some of the 50lbs he lost.
But the former Bellator welterweight champion’s everyday life will never be the same.
He admitted: “Things are going to look significantly different.
“For example, I can’t go to the wrestling tournaments with my kid, you know, my own biological children.
“I would like to, which would be very normal. So it’s going to look different.
“But I feel like I’m finally at that point where I can kind of take a deep breath and easily accomplish the things I need to in the day.”
The MMA and wrestling community rallied around the Askren family in their time of need.
Hundreds of donations, including a mammoth £368,000 ($500,000) offering, allowed Askren to receive his life-saving procedure.
The dad of three, who died FOUR TIMES during the ordeal, was blown away by the support his family received.
He said: “The thing that was most impactful to me was all the love I felt from everybody.
I kind of died once, you know, like for all intents and purposes, left Earth for 40 days.”
Ben Askren
“And it’s almost like I got to have my own funeral.
“I still remember it 30 years ago when Dave Phillips died and you listen to all these older people, you know, recollect.
“[About] how much they enjoy them, how much they love them.
“And you know, obviously, he never had to hear that.
“The outpouring of love from the wrestling community was just amazing.
“It felt so good.”
