Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, is in critical condition in the hospital after collapsing on the field during his team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals and needing a defibrillator and CPR.
Tee Higgins, a Bengals receiver, was stopped by Hamlin in the first quarter. Damar Hamlin briefly stood up after making the tackle, but then he fell backward to the ground and stayed still. After waiting for four minutes, an ambulance got to the field to help the 24-year-old player who was hurt.
After that, he was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Hamlin’s friend and company marketing rep Jordon Rooney said on Twitter:
His vitals are back to normal and they have put him to sleep to put a breathing tube down his throat. They are currently running tests. ‘We will provide updates as we have them.
After players from both teams worked on Damar Hamlin for 16 minutes, he was finally strapped down and taken off the field of play. Both teams’ players seemed totally shocked by what had just happened, and many of them could be seen crying on the field. The National Football League changed the time the game would start.
Many prayers needed for this player, Damar Hamlin, from Buffalo Bills who collapsed, after 9 Min of CPR was transported from the field to the hospital, in critical condition, game postponed, please Lord lift this young man in prayer to heal… pic.twitter.com/0ptbV0ODWN
— Diane (@ladyfishrn11) January 3, 2023
Hamlin’s lawyer, Ira Turner, gave the NFL Network the following statement:
Please continue to pray for Damar and his family. We currently have no update at this time. Will ask that you keep the family in your prayers.
From a statement released by the league:
Hamlin received immediate medical attention on the field by team and independent medical staff and local paramedics. He was then transported to a local hospital where he is in critical condition.
Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills. We will provide more information as it becomes available. The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association which is in agreement with postponing the game.
After their teammate was taken away, the Bills players got together to pray for his safety.
A source says that Hamlin’s family was at the game and came down to be with him as he was taken away in an ambulance.
During the long ordeal, ESPN Monday Night Football went to a commercial break four times while Hamlin was getting care.
Damar Hamlin was given oxygen while he was in the ambulance, and the game was stopped at first for an undetermined amount of time while both teams went back to their locker rooms.
Some of Hamlin’s teammates, like Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen, were caught on camera showing how worried they were about what was going on. Both sides seemed upset about what had happened.
As analyst Booger McFarland gave a helpful bit of background, the ESPN broadcast team was feeling very emotional.
When you bring CPR out, you’re trying to help someone breathe. We’re talking life or death now,
he said.
That’s real. What we do is just a game. When you involve life and death, it’s totally different.
No one´s been through this,
longtime NFL quarterback Troy Aikman added.
I’ve never seen anything like it, either.
Adam Schefter, a senior NFL insider for ESPN, also had some things to say about the situation.
Everybody is thinking and praying for him, every team, every player, every individual, everybody who’s watching Monday night football, everybody who tuned in to see this highly anticipated game, nobody cares about that right now.
As paramedics and other medical staff gathered around Hamlin, his uniform was cut off.
After a while, a video of Hamlin’s ambulance pulling up to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center was found.
Hamlin, who is now 24 years old, went to the University of Pittsburgh for all five years of his undergraduate education and played in 48 games for the Panthers.
As a senior, he was named to the All-ACC second team, picked as team captain, and asked to play in the Senior Bowl.
After being picked up by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2021 draft, he played in 14 games as a rookie. This year, Micah Hyde got hurt and couldn’t play for the rest of the season, so he became the starting quarterback.
Hamlin is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. Before the game started, he had 91 tackles, of which 63 were solo tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
