Ben Askren has given a third video update on his progress as he continues to recover in hospital from a double lung transplant.
“Yo guys. Update No. 3. It’s going pretty well. I’m getting a lot better. Starting to put some weight back on but I did have a few setbacks,” Askren said on Instagram.
“I was really hoping I would go home today because it’s my birthday and it got pushed back because I had some setbacks this week. I got a procedure that didn’t work, and then I did have a procedure that did work, but it took a little longer than we thought. I was really disappointed this morning, but I remembered Stockdale Paradox from the book ‘Good to Great.’
“He was a prisoner of war, and he said the people who thought they were going to get out by their birthday, or by Easter, or by Christmas – He said they always went downhill right afterwards. He said, I never gave up hope I was going to make it out. He was a prisoner of war for like six years, and he made it out.
“I always try to click back to that because, yes, I’m disappointed that I didn’t get out today but maybe it is what is best. And I am making a lot of progress. I’m getting better. I think this is like day 55, or something, in the hospital, so it’s definitely not ideal. I would have rather had a summer, but I didn’t die. And I’m getting better. And I’ll see my family soon.”
Askren’s latest post already has close to 4 million views on Instagram and hundreds of thousands of likes, which gives an indication of just how much people have become invested in the former Bellator and ONE FC champion’s battle back from this life-threatening ordeal, and he’s won over a legion of new fans with his mental toughness and positive attitude in the face of adversity.
