On Monday, Buffalo Bills player and National Football League (NFL) star Damar Hamlin sustained serious injuries after a devastating fall during the game.
The National Football League announced that the Buffalo Bills’ cornerback, Damar Hamlin, was in critical condition after he suffered a medical emergency on the field Monday night. Consequently, their game against Cincinnati Bengals was paused as teammates surrounded Hammlin while they administered CPR and were reportedly seen weeping upon his injury. ESPN reported it could have been due to an attempted tackle by Bengal’s T Higgins during the play prior.
As Higgins charged Hamlin with his right shoulder, the latter encompassed him in an embrace as he attempted to drive Higgins into the ground. After a few moments, Hamlin appeared to adjust his face mask with one hand before unexpectedly keeling over and remaining completely still.
#Buffalo #Bills player safety Damar Hamlin makes this tackle and with incredible force makes contact to the ground. He then gets up only to fall down involuntarily.
— Riyaz Manjiyani, PT, DPT (@RiyazManjiyani) January 3, 2023
This seems like a vasovagal syncope phenomenon where a stressful trigger leads to a sudden drop in HR and BP. pic.twitter.com/Ozw9vxtNi8
Hamlin was immediately attended to on the field by team personnel, independent medical professionals and paramedics. Following that, he was swiftly transferred via ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for further treatment.
Here’s the play that caused Damar #Hamlin to collapse. #pray4hamlin #hamlinisland #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/h2UIkCdUsf
— apparently (@OfficialDoer) January 3, 2023
Thoughts and prayers for Damar Hamlin and the entire @BuffaloBills
— 🚴🏻♀️🧠🎙 Jess Schwartz DPT, CSCS 👩🏻⚕️🗽🎾 (@DPT2Go) January 3, 2023
I’ve never seen a player have a response like this sans any hand, hip, or ankle strategy and fall posteriorly like this in nearly 20 years
cc @drtinamaster @stlsportsmed @BBlissDPT @KSkopConcussion @griz1 pic.twitter.com/TpB1tAqJUt
After over an hour had passed since the injury, it was declared that the match would not resume. It was uncertain when or even if both sides would eventually re-enter the field of play.
On Tuesday, the league administration expressed their condolences to Damar and the Buffalo Bills in a post on Twitter. They added that they will be providing more information soon and are working with the American Players Association regarding postponing the match.
The Associated Press reported that within four minutes of Hamelin’s collapse, an ambulance appeared on the field and many players were reduced to tears.
— NFL (@NFL) January 3, 2023
At 8:55 pm local time, Hamlin collapsed and was removed from the field 16 minutes later. Then, five minutes after the ambulance left, play halted and all players vacated the pitch towards their respective locker rooms.
