Damar Hamlin

Last night on Monday Night Football two NFL players collided. One was Bengals player Tee Higgins and the other was Bills Safety Damar Hamlin. As NFL players do they both jumped up after the collision but then Damar Hamlin went back down and lay still.

Medical personnel came running out and it became clear very quickly that this was no typical NFL injury. Hamlin had gone into cardiac arrest and had to be given CPR for almost 20 minutes.

Finally they got his heart beating again and an ambulance came onto the field to transport him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Nearly 24 hours later all we know is Hamlin's vital signs have gone back to normal, he's been sedated and remains in critical condition.

We don't know what happened but the speculation is that chest trauma resulting from the collision at just the wrong instant and the wrong place caused his heart to go into arrythmia. 

This is the nightmare sports scenario and can happen when projectiles, such as a baseball or hockey puck, hit a player in the chest. It's very rare in football but it can happen. It's what keeps youth baseball and softball coaches up at night.

The game was first suspended and then postponed. The NFL has yet to announce its intentions about whether the game will be rescheduled or not.

Hamlin had started a charity to help give back to his community. He had a GoFundMe active to collect money for a toy drive this Christmas. The GoFundMe exceeded its $2,500 target by $250 and raised $2,750.

That fund now has over $4.1 million in it including $50 of my hard earned shekels. I hope Damar Hamlin recovers fully and never scares us like this again.

Edit: 1/3/2023 @ 5:40 PM. Make that over $4.9 million.