How Buffalo Bills Player Damar Hamlin Scored the Ultimate Victory
Damar Hamlin: Gridiron Grit
America held its breath when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and lay motionless on the field at Ohio’s Paycor Stadium on Jan. 2. His team had been battling the Cincinnati Bengals when the young athlete suffered cardiac arrest. But the Bills’ Denny Kellington is being hailed as a hero for administering CPR to the stricken player before a defibrillator was used to restart his heart — and experts say the quick-thinking assistant trainer likely saved the NFL pro’s life.
Hamlin, who turns 25 on March 24, fell to the grass after landing a routine hit on Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins in the first quarter of the game — and medical personnel immediately sprang into action.
The collision wasn’t particularly violent, yet Hamlin had to be carried from the field as stunned players and fans looked on. The Pennsylvania native was rushed to the intensive care unit at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was placed on a ventilator until he could breathe on his own. Later interviews would reveal that medical personnel actually used a defibrillator on the field to revive Damar in a heroic move to save his life.
Doctors shared updates on Damar’s “remarkable improvement” during those first critical days — especially when Hamlin awoke from a coma to ask in writing who’d won the game — a fact they pointed to as proof he was “neurologically intact.”
Irreparable brain injuries can occur quickly in those suffering cardiac arrest because cerebral tissue begins dying within minutes of oxygen deprivation, which explains why experts say Kellington’s swift application of CPR likely made all the difference.
Before a week had passed, Hamlin shared a Zoom call with his teammates.
“We were able to hear him say, ‘I love you boys,’ to the team and to the people in the room,” says Bills head coach Sean McDermott.
The coach revealed Hamlin’s overjoyed teammates “stood up right away and clapped for him.”
After a week at UC Medical Center, Hamlin was given the all-clear to be transferred to a facility in New York. Shortly afterward, the Bills announced he was discharged from Buffalo General Medical Center following a “comprehensive medical evaluation” to continue his rehabilitation at home and at the team’s facilities.
“One of the reasons Hamlin had such good neurologic outcomes and a week later was tweeting with friends was that he had early CPR and early defibrillation,” says Dr. Mary Ann Peberdy, a professor of medicine and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, who was not involved with the player’s treatment.
Marketing rep Jordon Rooney says his “upbeat” pal continues to work on his recovery, and Hamlin tweeted, “The Love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out. We brung the world back together behind this. If you know me, you know this only gone make me stronger. On a long road, keep praying for me!”
The very fact that Hamlin is alive shows the vital importance of athletic trainers and on-field medical personnel. Many cases of cardiac arrest don’t have such positive outcomes, given that they primarily occur outside of a setting where swift professional care is available.
“In the best circumstances, maybe one or two out of 10 are going to survive,” notes Dr. Howie Mell, a Chicago-based emergency room physician. “But the public believes it’s nine out of 10. Hollywood changes the perception.”
In fact, a 2017 study found defibrillation and cardiac arrest survival outcomes are often portrayed inaccurately on television dramas as the need to wrap up an entertaining plotline by the end of an episode doesn’t necessarily jibe with reality.
As for the Bills-Bengals game, it was ultimately canceled by NFL officials. But Dr. Timothy Pritts, a Professor of Surgery at UC Medical Center, says, “When he asked, ‘Did we win?’ the answer is ‘Yes. You know, Damar, you won. You won the game of life.’”
Since that time Damar Hamlin has turned his overwhelming notoriety to a positive cause, speaking much to the character of the man. Some of us actually saw him in person at the latest Adobe Summit in Las Vegas where Peyton Manning interviewed him about an impressive range of philanthropy. From a tiny $2,500 GoFundMe campaign seeking to bring toy to local underprivileged children, Damar has now set up and entire foundation to expand the charitable work he can spearhead. If you want to hear from the man himself, Adobe has made the Keynote replay publicly available. Just click up to the 1:15:41 link in the timeline, unless you’d like to learn a lot more about Adobe business software. They are as impressive as they are expensive, if that helps your decision.
