Bellator MMA alum, Ian Coughlan has revealed how a once-planned procedure in Germany to improve his quality of life after suffering a freak accident in mixed martial arts training which left him paralyzed, has now been cancelled upon advice received from Irish doctors, who claimed the procedure would likely fail to work.
Back in July of last year, Ian Coughlan, 30, a practitioner of Shaolin MMA in Dublin, was involved in a training room incident, where he was left paralyzed due to a freak accident during a session.
Ian Coughlan competed under the Bellator MMA banner back in 2019
Competing twice as a professional under both the Clan Wars and Bellator MMA banner, Coughlan debuted with an armbar victory over Maciek Gierszewski, before dropping a unanimous decision loss to Constantin Gnusariov.
Severe MMA reporter, Andy Stevenson provided an update on the health of Coughlan following a recent interview with the 30-year-old, detailing his attempt to undergo a procedure in Germany, before eventually electing against undergoing the procedure in a last ditch attempt to potentially regain mobility.
“Ian Coughlan – the #IrishMMA fighter who was paralysed last year – has spent the past 15 months in hospitals and care homes,” Stevenson tweeted. “Ian spoke to me last week about his struggles. He needs out help to get him home.”
“Ian and his wife, with the generosity of others, purchased a cottage for them to live in, but the unexpected scale of renovation costs to make it wheelchair accessible are the barrier to finally getting Ian home,” Stevenson tweeted. “Ian speaks about all of that and more.”
Sharing an update on his journey following the accident, Coughlan revealed how he a plan in his mind to take his own live if treatment and a planned procedure in Germany was to fail, before turning to Irish doctor’s who advised him against undergoing the €73,000 operation.
“It was only for my family that I made that decision, like, to be honest with you, without getting too melodramatic or too dark, everyone who told me it (the procedure) won’t work, I literally said to them, if it doesn’t work, I’m going to kill myself anyway,” Ian Coughlan told Severe MMA. “So that was my attitude – that’s the level of – that’s how low I was. I literally said, if it doesn’t work, I’m going to kill myself, so I might as well give it a try. But you realise that you’ve got a family at home that rely on you. And that changes everything.”