Justin Wren and his epic return from Africa!

VIDEO:  Check out Justin Wren in action!

And it is the health of people who are stressed up that usually suffer. This condition is worsened at those times of the year when people begin to reflect on their unfulfilled dreams, broken promises, financial losses botched business plans, political and corporate betrayals, misplaced trust in “friends”, deceits, blackmails, disappointed love affairs and sour romantic adventures; not to talk of the domestic upheavals in the home front.

With his body temperature fluctuating wildly, he had lost 33 pounds in five days, draining the strength from a burly, blond-bearded mixed martial artist who left his sport in search of something bigger. Wren realizes most people with any self-preservation instinct would have left Africa to recover.

Malaria symptoms include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Infection with one type of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death.

Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease was first linked to malaria by the Sierra Leonean physician Dr John Farrell Easmon in his 1884 pamphlet entitled The Nature and Treatment of Blackwater Fever. Easmon coined the name “Blackwater fever” and was the first to successfully treat such cases following the publication of his pamphlet.

Signs and symptoms

Within a few days of onset there are chills, with rigor, high fever, jaundice, vomiting, rapidly progressive anemia, and dark red or black urine.

Causes

The cause of hemolytic crises in this disease is unknown (mainly due to intravascular haemolysis). There is rapid and massive destruction of red blood cells with the production of hemoglobinemia (hemoglobin in the blood, but outside the red blood cells), hemoglobinuria (hemoglobin in urine), intense jaundice, anuria (passing less than 50 milliliters of urine in a day), and finally death in the majority of cases.

Wren enjoyed a highly successful and decorated wrestling career before venturing into MMA. He was a standout at Texas wrestling powerhouse Bishop Lynch High School, where he was coached by Olympic Gold Medalists Kenny Monday and Kendall Cross. During that time, he was a two time Prep State Champion (2004, 2005) and a two time Prep all-American, winning the Prep National Championship his senior year in Lehigh, PA.

Wanting to try his hand at Division I college wrestling, Wren planned to move to Iowa State University to compete for then coach Cael Sanderson, however, he sustained an injury training before he could join the team. To stay active, Wren entered local fights around Iowa and began his MMA career.
Wren won his first four fights by knockout before taking his first loss. His opponent was Matt Thompson. Wren then won five more fights and was ten and one before appearing on TUF. Heading into the tenth instalment of The Ultimate Fighter, Wren had trained all over the world but found his permanent home in Denver, CO with TUF 10 coach Trevor Wittman.
Wren is one of several fighters who is chaplained by The Fight Pastor.

After a month of recovery, he bought a truck and drove it back.

“You’re going to have to take me out, because that’s the fighter I am,” Wren said. “That’s what this mission is about. That’s why I went to the Congo. When I say that’s my family, I literally mean it. It’s not a shallow thing to me. It’s not to tug on anyone’s heart. That’s my heart. That’s my family.”

Wren returns to MMA after a five-year absence Friday night, taking on Josh Burns in Temecula, California.

He wants to resurrect his fighting career, but a championship belt is no longer his ultimate goal.

“I’m in it for a lot more than me now,” Wren said. “I put a world of pressure on myself even when it was just for me, and now it’s for them.”

Wren was ready to quit MMA while he spent a full year in the Congo. He made initial plans to move permanently with his then-girlfriend, Emily, who had never been on a camping trip before Wren plunked her down in Africa.

But as his return to the U.S. grew closer last year, the fighting itch returned. He also acknowledged the enormous opportunity he held in his powerful hands: MMA is a platform to reach untold millions with the pygmies’ story.