The Fate of a Lossy Lakers Player: James J. Hamlin in his First Game with the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals
Hamlin was resuscitated for over nine minutes as the medical staff worked to save his life. He is currently in critical condition at a Cincinnati hospital, according to the Bills.
A Bills player collapsed during the first quarter of Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was taken from the field in an ambulance, leaving his teammates emotional, crying and embracing one another.
The game was suspended with nearly six minutes left in the first quarter and was later officially postponed. The NFL said Tuesday that the game will not be resumed this week and no decision has been made on whether to continue it at a later date.
Vincent said that he had never seen anything like it before. My player hat went on immediately. How do you resume play after you’ve seen such a traumatic event occur in front of you in real time?”
Hamlin was taken to the University of Cincinnati Hospital, where he was treated, according to the broadcast.
In his first season, Hamlin didn’t see the field much. Pro Bowl caliber defensive backs like White and Hyde were too much of a part of the Bills depth chart.
According to his Pittsburgh Panthers player bio, he was redshirted – meaning he sat out on games while remaining on the team – in 2016 due to injury. The NFL site added that he also missed time due to injuries in 2017 and 2019.
We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL,” the union added. At this point in time, health and well being is all that matters.
The Lakers player said after the game against the Hornets Monday night that the safety of players is always the most important. It was very bad to see.
James said that his thoughts and prayers were with the family of the kid, the NFL and everybody who was a part of the family.
Several athletes sent well wishes and prayers, including Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos, Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens.
Football fans of the two teams were at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center early Tuesday to hold a candle in honor of Hamlin.
Pritts said that the test to determine cause is ongoing and will be a good turning point in his care. Hamlin’s next big milestone will be breathing on his own without a ventilator, said Dr. William Knight, director of emergency medicine. Tests are still underway to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest, Knight said.
Donations to the toy drive raised by Hamlin in the hours after his collapse exceeded $3 million in just a few hours.
Hamlin’s family thanked first responders, medical professionals and both football teams for their support, prayers and donations in a statement released Tuesday.
“All you can do right now is pray for Damar. The man is not the football player, but the person. He needs to pull through, says the poet Laureate.
Damar Rooney: Football Forward at the Chasing M’s Foundation in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania and his Toy Drive to Buffalo
He made a name for himself in high school, leading his team to a 15-1 record, a WPIAL Class AAAA championship and PIAA state title in his senior year. Recruitment sites Rivals and 247Sports named Hamlin the top-rated defensive player in Pennsylvania and several Division 1 football schools pursued him.
Hamlin set up his Chasing M’s Foundation while in college to help underprivileged children in his hometown of McKees Rock.
“I mean, if there’s anyone I have confidence in making it out of anything, it’s him. He is someone who always figures out a way to come out on top,” Rooney told CNN’s Adrienne Broaddus Tuesday.
Rooney said that the man was in the NFL because he wanted to be a role model. “Part of what drives Damar is to be an example for the other young people in his community.”
He wants to build his own brand, and it’s something that’s pretty unique, that’s the reason why.
We’re partners in a business now that we became super close after he worked for me. We collaborate on a lot of things and we’re really good friends.”
He told CNN that he enjoys giving back and that he wants to extend the toy drive to Buffalo.
When he and his family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the years 2021 passed: “Everything was Pittsburgh for me,” said M. Hamlin
In a 2021 interview with the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Hamlin credited his parents, Mario and Nina Hamlin, for keeping him on a straight path as a kid in McKees Rocks, which the paper said had drug and gang problems that produced one of the highest crime rates in the US.
In an interview with the paper, Hamlin said that his parents helped him get back to track when he steered left or right at times.
Hamlin was able to go to the private Pittsburgh Central Catholic high school because he assisted his mother in the family cleaning business.
Fans poured millions of dollars into a charity Hamlin started in 2020 to show their support before he was picked in the sixth round of the NFL draft.
A new wing was built at the local hospital thanks to a gift from Josh Allen and the Bills. They also raised $75,000 for the favorite charity of a rival player, the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, after he was removed from a 2021 playoff game for a concussion.
The 24-year-old’s collapse — which happened in the first quarter, after he collided with a Bengals player — brought a rare early halt to the game and left onlookers both on and off the field distraught.
Athletes, teams, and players from a wide variety of sports flooded social media with their respects and prayers. He spent five years playing for the University of Pittsburgh, his hometown, before moving to the NFL.
I was in Pittsburgh. He said “everything was Pittsburgh for me.” “I wanted to give my city bragging rights, bring my city something and just give the city another reason to smile.”
The aftermath of Jackson’s injury: Something happened to him and how I didn’t want to be like he had hoped to play football
He has played in all 15 games so far, tallying 91 tackles (tied for second-most on the Bills), six tackles for loss, two pass breakups and 1.5 sacks this season.
Hamlin spoke about Jackson’s injury — and the opportunity to play football, especially alongside a close friend — in an appearance on One Bills Live earlier this season, in a video clip that has since resurfaced on social media.
Hamlin said he cherishes it every second that he can. “Every second of every day. We do our daily prayer every Wednesday, and we just had it. He was next to me and I just grabbed his hand a little bit harder just because you know you never know when your last day could be that you get to experience something like this. I’m taking every moment I can.
“My mom, my dad, my little brother, like that’s pretty much my whole world, outside of any other thing going on; my life revolves around them,” he said. “I don’t really do too much without my mom and dad’s opinion. Whether I take it or whether I don’t … Sometimes, I want to hear it.
Hamlin told the Globe a long time ago that his parents were his personal role models, and that he wanted to go to college in Pittsburgh because he wanted to be like them for his brother.
Pittsburgh sports journalist Amanda Godsey tweeted Monday night that her mind went straight to Hamlin’s family after seeing him collapse, recalling that he seemed close to his parents and had his brother on his lap during a media session several years ago.
We must not watch the replay of Hamlin’s collision with the bengals receiver, as an account associated with the football league said in the aftermath. It is too graphic; disturbing; and disrespectful.
The broadcast cuts to commercials when injury timeouts are used. When the program resumed, emergency medical staff and the players were gathered around the stricken athlete. ESPN announcer Joe Buck seemed stunned into silence along with everyone else.
“There’s nothing to say right now” Buck said at one point as the cameras showed the coach, players and their faces shaking with emotion.
An ambulance backing across the field toward Hamlin’s mother: The players and the coaches in Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium, at 11:34 p.m. ET
9 p.m. — An ambulance backing across the field toward Hamlin at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium was posted on a local TV station’s website.
“The entire Bills team is out on the field right now,” Salters said. Several players are on their knees and other players are praying. You can see the worried looks on their faces.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow and other Bengals also gathered near midfield. After minutes of hushed quiet in the stadium, brief applause broke out when Hamlin was seen on a stretcher.
8:26 p.m. Hamlin was taken off the field by an ambulance. The emergency vehicle then paused in the parking lot — apparently to give Hamlin’s mother, who was at the game, time to ride in the ambulance with her son, Danneman reported.
“I have zero clue how anybody is expected to continue playing this game,” The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., who is based in Cincinnati, tweeted. “What a horrifying scene that was.”
9:14 p.m. — “Players are coming back on the field and it looks like the game will continue,” ESPN’s Ben Baby reported. Burrow was seen throwing warmup passes, with his helmet back on.
“They’ve been given 5 minutes to, quote unquote, get ready to go back to playing,” Buck said of the situation. Nobody’s moving, that’s the word from the league and the word from the field, but that’s what we get.
Just before the decision was announced in the stadium, Buck said that it appeared that Sean McDermott was going to pull his team off the field. Buck was then told on-air that NFL officials had decided the teams needed an opportunity to “regroup themselves.”
9:29p.m. “Zac Taylor walked to the Bills locker room area and was waiting outside with his boss, then they met with the referees”, reported Danneman.
Football players and coaches in the locker room after the Bengals’ game against the Bills at 1 p.m. ET: A player’s uncle and the hospital
As questions lingered about the apparent initial plan to resume play, local TV station WCPO, which was carrying the game, noted that the five-minute warmup period is standard protocol after most delays.
The station also said that before the game was formally suspended, Burrow and other Bengals players had left their home locker room to join Bills players in the visitors’ facility.
12:17 a.m. Tuesday — The NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that in a conference call with reporters after the game, Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, said that despite earlier reports, the league never sought to resume the game.
There wasn’t a time period for the players to warm up. “It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. We shouldn’t be in that place.
Dorrian Glenn, Hamlin’s uncle, said that doctors revived Hamlin’s heart when he arrived at the hospital.
Glenn told CNN that he’s glad that he’s still alive. I want to thank the medical staff that was at the scene. If it weren’t for them, my nephew wouldn’t be here.
Buffalo Bengals Wide Receiver Dion Dawkins: That was the moment when Hamlin got on the ground and it brought into his own consciousness
Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins said he realized the gravity of his teammate’s condition when Hamlin continued to stay on the ground as more and more medical staff were called over.
You just think in that moment, what can I do? What can we do?’ Dawkins told CNN that it broke him down into prayer. A higher power can take control if you are not a believer. And our people that help also assisted that higher power.”
In the past few months, the players and Buffalo community have suffered a number of tragedies, including a mass shooting and historic snowstorm that took the lives of at least 41 people. It has been a continual beating for Buffalo, said Dawkins.
The doctor also addressed theories that the cardiac arrest could have been caused by commotio cordis, which occurs when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge, causing dangerous fibrillations.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explained that when the heart is not beating well, fluid can sometimes back up into the lungs and make it hard for medical staff to oxygenate the patient. So, they will flip the person on their stomach into a prone position to make breathing easier.
“So you want to improve the amount of circulation, but in the interim, you can also decrease the demand by sedating somebody, by keeping them on a breathing machine,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll even use cooling agents, hypothermia it’s called, to basically almost put the body in more of a hibernation-like state so it’s not demanding as much oxygenated blood. That is another reason he would be on a breathing machine.
Damar Hamlin: What Happens After a Football Defusion? The Doctors and Families of Damar and Donté Stallworth
“This has been a very difficult week,” Goodell said. “We continue to focus on the recovery of Damar Hamlin and are encouraged by the improvements in his condition as well as the tremendous outpouring of support and care for Damar and his family from across the country. We are very appreciative of the amazing work that the medical personnel do, each and every one of them.
Former NFL player Donté Stallworth said the league’s decision to postpone the game wouldn’t have happened years ago. He told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that the game would have resumed ten years ago.
Is this okay? While what happened to Hamlin is still unclear, he suffered a cardiac arrest after what seemed to many observers to be a run-of-the-mill hit. He and Hughes make it impossible for those who love and watch this game to avoid its moral questions. Is a game that results in so much pain and suffering a reasonable pursuit in an enlightened society? Should we talk more about the 2017 Boston University study that found Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in 99% of brains obtained from NFL players, as well as 91% of college football players? Can we question the wisdom of grown men slamming into grown men? Can we debate whether youth tackle leagues are life-affirming, or insane?
The continued shock of Hamlin’s hospitalization – on top of the city’s mass shooting in May, deadly December blizzard, having a home game in November moved to Detroit and getting stuck in Chicago during the holidays – has been heavy on everyone associated with the club, the source said.
Darrell Hamlin, whose role as a defensive back in the Bills of the Pittsburgh Collegiate, remembers when he didn’t play football
The scouting report on the star defensive back from the University of Pittsburgh said he had great instincts and a nose for the ball, but that he was undersized and perhaps a bit slow.
“I’m willing to do anything just to be a contributor on the team, man.” He told reporters after the draft that he didn’t care if it’s I need to pass out water at halftime. “No matter what it is, I’m willing to do it.” I don’t got no pride.”
Before Monday, the 2022 season had been a bittersweet ride for Hamlin, filled both with the opportunity of a lifetime and uncomfortable reminders of the perils of football.
“Me and my family, we all seen it as the perfect opportunity to be able to come in and learn,” he said in a Bills media interview in November. “Some rookies, they have the pressure of having to get out there right away. They might be ready for their moment, but they might not have enough left in the tank.
That was in September, when cornerback Dane Jackson took a gruesome-looking hit to the head and neck during a tackle in a game against the Tennessee Titans.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/04/1146800229/damar-hamlin-bills-cherished-opportunity
The Last Folk Hero: a story of a muddy boy running into the Detroit Lions, and Jackson’s face down in the muddy field
After that, Hamlin had seemed to take every opportunity to count his blessings, even as he racked up tackles, playing time and attention from fans and the media.
He reminded Jackson that even if he was not charged up, he was in the right place.
“I just grabbed his hand a little bit harder, because you never know when the last day could be that you’re getting to experience something like this,” he said.
Jeff Pearlman is the author of ten books, including his latest, The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson. The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.
There is a harrowing black-and-white image in the archives of the Detroit Free Press.
The Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes collapsed to his stomach and lay face down in the muddy field, after he ran 15 yards into the Chicago Bears secondary.
Wrote George Puscas, the Free Press’ executive sports editor: “From the moment Dick Butkus, the huge Chicago Bears linebacker, began waving frantically at the Lions’ bench, it was obvious that Chuck Hughes was in serious trouble.”
The National Football League is Loud! And If You Have a Dog You Can’t Get Your Pepsi, It Will Always Be Yours
The National Football League is the land of soda. And potato chips. It’s the land of $169 embroidered jerseys and $59 hats (both available now at NFL.com! Free shipping if you order ASAP!). It’s the land of gambling apps and fantasy leagues; of shiny helmets and colorful uniforms and scantily clad cheerleaders and adults dressed as foamy barnyard animals. The NFL exists to entice your senses and pull your dollars and bring your suppressed aggressions to life every Sunday afternoon. It is loud! And POW! and POP!
The officials knew Hughes was dead when he was removed from the field, but they took 10 minutes to make a decision.
Some of the fans who agree with this are trying to show respect, but coming from NFL-associated voices, it started to sound too much like unofficial/official dogma: Drink your Pepsi. Eat your Tostitos. Wear your foam finger. Just don’t focus upon the carnage.
Brandon Hughes was only one when his father died on the surface of Tiger Stadium, but when he saw what happened to Hamlin, his feelings hit him hard. “Everything they were saying was so familiar to me,” Brandon, an employee at a mutual fund company, told me. They kept talking about how unprecedented it was. I thought, ‘No, no it’s not. Not at all.
Brandon Hughes was widowed at the age of 24. She sounded saddened—both by the uncertainty of Hamlin’s future and the familiar echoes of past tragedy.
Glenn Collapse in Pittsburgh: “It’s all right, it’s always going to be right,” he told reporters during a game
Glenn traveled a long way to be with the player and his family in the morning. He’d been watching the game at home in Pittsburgh when his nephew collapsed on-field.
Hamlin was taken directly to the Cincinnati hospital, where he was placed into a medically-supervised coma following his collapse on the field early in the game.
The friends, who met at a high school, spoke daily and talked earlier in the day before Hamlin collapsed. Thomas said that seeing his friend calmed him down. “It made the trip home a lot easier. I know he is going to be straight. I got him. We were all able to get him. Everyone is behind him.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/sport/damar-hamlin-collapse-bills-status-thursday/index.html
Hamlin collapse and the transformational response of Buffalo Medical Personnel after the ESPN telecast broadcast of the 23.9 million viewers episode on January 3
Initially regarded as an important late-season matchup with significant playoff implications, the showdown averaged 21.1 million viewers on ESPN during play, according to Nielsen ratings. After Hamlin’s collapse, viewership grew to a historic 23.9 million, making the telecast the most watched “Monday Night Football” in ESPN history.
“You have to have the right type of blow hitting at the right spot on the chest with the right amount of force at just the right time in that cardiac cycle. So a lot of things have to line up for that to happen,” he said, emphasizing that while it is possible, investigators will consider all options.
Hamlin collapsed after a 60-minute meeting that was held before every game, and was attributed to the “transformational response” of medical personnel. During the meeting, teams identify the location of medical equipment and nearby medical centers, and establish a chain of command in case of an emergency, including cardiac arrest, among other things.
A high-ranking official within the Bills organization broke down in tears after a very long day of meetings on Tuesday because of the heavy situation.
The source told Wire that Buffalo has tried to be a source of strength for the city because of the emotional blows that have piled up.
The source pointed to the performance of Buffalo Sabres hockey forward Tage Thompson on Tuesday night as a “glimmer of hope” at a time when the team needs inspiration.
Hamlin’s jersey number, 3, was a recurring motif throughout the game, played on January 3. Thompson’s three goals in overtime were the difference in the game. Thompson scored his third goal in the third minute of overtime to complete his hat trick.
“Did We Win?” Tim Pritts, Higgins and the Buffalo Bills: Following the Collapse of Hamlin, the Baltimore Collapser
“We were concerned after the injury, but now he’s made substantial improvement,” UCMC physician Timothy Pritts said.
Hamlin is able to talk by shaking his head, nodding or writing something down, said Pritts. Hamlin was still thinking about the game as he took his first question from a clipboard: “Did we win?”
William Knight IV, UCMC physician said, “He expressed surprise that he had not been with the world for a couple days and we spoke about the support from the team and really the world for him and his family at the time.”
Hamlin’s father spoke to the Buffalo Bills on a call Wednesday to let them know he was doing well, according to the report.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell informed all clubs of his decision Thursday after contacting the Bills, Bengals and NFL Players Association leadership, according to a release from the league.
Allen said they had some “very open and honest and deep talks” since their teammate was hospitalized. He said that putting the helmet on was a good thing, but that some people will be changed forever after being on the field.
“I hope that he got some relief today,” Allen said of Higgins while speaking to reporters Thursday. He added, “That’s a football play, and I hope that he doesn’t hold that upon himself, because there is nothing else that he could have done in that situation.”
Doctors and Bills team members have repeatedly applauded the immediate action of medical personnel who rushed to Hamlin just seconds after his collapse.
Dion Dawkins said on his account that Kellington was the person who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to Hamlin, who was revived after he lost his pulse.
“As they say, practice pays off and it did in this case,” McDermott said at a post-practice news conference devoted to Hamlin. For the assistant to have to step up and take the charge like he did, and for the other players on the field to do the same, is incredible.
Denny Kellington, the Bills’ Head Athletic Trainer, said: “It’s a shame that I didn’t play football”
Deciding to play the game would also have forced the league to postpone the start of the playoffs by one week, the NFL release explained, a move that would affect all 14 clubs that qualify.
“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 – and there were others on the field as well – is nothing short of amazing,” McDermott said of Kellington during a news conference Thursday.
When a person is in a cardiac arrest, the heart no longer pumps blood, which means there is nooxygen going to the brain or other organs. The chances of organ damage and survival decrease as the length of time a person goes without oxygen increases. CPR mimics a pumping heart, which keeps blood flowing, and a defibrillator shocks the heart, which can cause it to start beating again.
Kellington joined the training staff of the Bills. Prior to joining the team, he was an athletic trainer at Syracuse University for 11 years, six of which were spent as the head athletic trainer for the football team, according to the university and Kellington’s LinkedIn. He also previously served as a graduate student athletic trainer at Ohio State University, the school confirmed to CNN.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/sport/denny-kellington-bills-damar-hamlin-cpr/index.html
The Bills had to rely on caregivers for their own medical care: A grateful tribute to the NFL head coach Doug McDermott
A few seconds later, another voice says, “We’re going to need everybody. All call, all call.” Within the minute several people start screaming for personnel to rush to the field.
The skilled and quick responses by caregivers prevented a tragic outcome at the time, according to the NFL chief medical officer.
The doctors and nurses of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the medical teams of the Bills are being thanked by the team and its new head coach, Doug McDermott.