what happened to damar hamlin?

01/07/2023

On Monday January 2nd, the sports world recently witnessed an unprecedented moment that occurred in a Monday Night Football Match between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills. With the NFL season set to come to a close, this highly anticipated match between two AFC contenders would have playoff ramifications, with the Bills fighting for the top spot atop the standings, and the Bengals jostling for important playoff seeding. For one night, however, the NFL spotlight wouldn’t be on the outcome of the match or the game itself, but fans around the world unite in support of Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

It’s hard to describe what exactly happened on the play that would see this young athlete suffer cardiac arrest on the football field, partly because I hadn’t seen it happen live. What would I be doing on a Monday night other than watching football, but indulging in some online Playstation gaming. Why watch the sport live when you can play the same game on a console? I checked my phone and was shocked to read that on a seemingly routine tackle, Hamlin had collapsed and required resuscitation on the field to restore his heart beat, with players gathered around in a circle of prayer. The Game would be postponed, not before the NFL questioned whether another set of nightly profits was more important than this young man’s health.

So, what happened to Damar Hamlin, an athlete in peak physical condition, on a routine tackle, a play that occurs hundreds of thousands of times in a given NFL season?

It is widely known that playing in the NFL can have serious health consequences and cause trauma to the brain and other parts of the body, including shoulders, ankles, and knees. There have been many precautions instituted to tighten up procedures when dealing with concussions, such as the mysterious concussion protocol, where players have to pass all five phases of the protocol before being cleared by the team’s physician for play. Miami Dolphins Quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, was allowed back onto the field after sustaining his third concussion this year, and has been put under the microscope as an example of the failed policy. Never before, however, has the NFL had to deal with an injury of this magnitude - or has it been thought to occur on the football field.

If you’re in DP Bio, you may be able to understand some of these vocab terms. For others, ventricular depolarization, repolarization, and K+ ion channels may mean nothing to you. The moment of impact had to occur at the exact millisecond of the cardiac cycle.

Doctors across the metaverse and twitter jumped to conclude the cause of the injury with some attempting to tie the ailment to his vaccination status, but the consensus became Commodio Cortis, when trauma to the chest at the exact moment in the cardiac wave cycle - at the upstroke of the T wave - causes the heart to enter defibrillation, or the heart being thrown off its normal rhythm. The injury has frequently been reported in sports, most often noted in baseball from that spherical object striking the chest, but has been seen in other youth sports like hockey and lacrosse. To say that this was a freak accident is an understatement. Out of the thousands of tackles each year, there has never been an injury of this magnitude, which lead some experts to believe Hamlin may have suffered from an underlying heart condition known as an Arrhythmia (irregular beating of the heart).

It is yet to be known if the NFL will reschedule the game, but for now, the week 18 slate remains unchanged (by the time you’re reading this article we may have more clarity on this situation). However, the priority remains Hamlin’s health, which has slowly been on the mend in the days following the injury. He was reported to be sedated, intentionally put in a state of sleep by a drug to allow the brain to rest and to receive oxygen. Brain damage due to lack of oxygen is the serious consequence that doctors will be monitoring.

fantasy football - what's next?

The suspension of the game caused many questions for Fantasy Football Players across the world, whose Championship hopes may have been hinging on the outcome of the Bills-Bengals games. Yahoo has decided to move forward to week 18 with the standings as is, but scoring updates will be applied retroactively, which may affect championship matches. Betting sites have also been affected, with most bets from Monday night’s voided.

This remains a rapidly evolving situation and calls into question the safety of the game for younger athletes. The fact of the matter is, although this was a rare occurrence, other injuries to the brain and other parts of the body are likely to arise from playing football. The unprecedented unification of those across the world gives me hope that we can get through anything, together.

Truthfully, we were all Bills fans on Monday night.