The recovery and resilience of Damar Hamlin

On January 3rd, Damar Hamlin, a safety on the Buffalo Bills, collapsed after a defensive play where he brought down Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin, who was struck in the chest by Higgins’ shoulder, went into cardiac arrest on the field. Medics scrambled to resuscitate him for twenty minutes before he was transferred to a hospital, where Hamlin was fully intubated. Bills coach Sean McDermott said that assistant athletic trainer Denny Killington performed CPR on Hamlin, saving Hamlin’s life. 

“For an assistant to find himself at that position and needing to take the action that he did and step up and take charge like he did … is nothing short of amazing.” McDermott also said.

According to Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, the whole stadium fell silent. “This was one of the first experiences for myself where something like this has happened in this type of way, where it silenced an entire stadium that was at an uproar half a play earlier.” Like many members of both teams involved in the Monday night game, Dawkins’ reaction was to pray for him.

Dawkins immediately recognized the urgency of the situation when he saw the medics moving in a frenzy. The Bills’ staff, with no time to spare, were waving their arms wildly and calling over the elite medics.

“That’s when you really realize that something is really, really wrong.” Dawkins said to CNN reporters.

After Hamlin was transferred to the Cincinnati Medical Center, around one hundred Bills fans and even a few Bengals fans gathered down the street from the emergency room. They held candles for him and hoped he would recover.

Luckily, their wish was granted. Hamlin, who was on a ventilator, woke up in the hospital. He has recovered significantly, enough for small movements with his hands and feet. This means that he can communicate by writing small notes. He also has been able to hold the hands of his family members.

What was Hamlin’s first question after he woke up? His first sentence, “Did we win?” was written on a clipboard. According to Dr. Timothy Pritts, vice chair at UC Health for Clinical Operations, the response from one of Pritts’ associates was “Yes, Damar, you’ve won. You’ve won the game of life.”

Everyone is relieved now that it is clear Damar Hamlin will be recovered soon. All cylinders in his brain appear to be working. His brain and all of its functions are intact. “We know that he’s home,” Pritts said. 

Tee Higgins, whom Hamlin tackled before collapsing, said that knowing Hamlin was recovering “made him feel better inside.”

Joe Biden himself, after having a conversation with Hamlin’s parents about the dangers of football, has responded to Hamlin’s recovery, stating, “Great news. Damar, like I told your mom and dad yesterday, Jill and I – along with all of America – are praying for you and your family.”.

Three weeks later, Damar recovered enough to watch his team’s playoff game. Near the end of the first half, Hamlin, who was being projected on the big screen, stood up and made a series of gestures. The first was a heart; the second was a three for his jersey number, and the last one was a signal for the crowd to get louder.

Hamlin will continue to recover. As he continues on his journey to recover, he will continue to show us his resilience and his love of the sport.

Unfortunately, the Bills were beaten by the Bengals in the NFL divisionals round, which means that their season is over, as we mentioned in our podcast. We can only wait and see if Hamlin will recover enough to play by the next season.