Damar Hamlin In Attendance For Bills-Bengals Playoff Game Since Suffering Cardiac Arrest
Published by: Buzz Sports
The 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills, Damar Hamlin returned to Highmark Stadium on Sunday to watch and support his team in the AFC divisional round playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals after suffering from cardiac arrest.
Prayers For Damar
Three weeks ago, on January 2nd, in a regular season matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin completed a tackle on Bengals receiver Tee Higgins; both men seemed to be uninjured. Moments after, Hamlin appeared to stumble and suddenly collapse on the field. Immediately being attended to by medical staff, he was given oxygen and CPR on the field. He was then placed onto a stretcher and rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center via ambulance, where he would spend a week in recovery under intensive care.
Hamlin’s speedy recovery was found to be because he was neurologically intact. His experience with cardiac arrest was manageable because the medical team got his heart beating quick enough so that he did not experience any brain damage due to the potential lack of oxygen.
On January 7th, Hamlin took to Instagram and wrote: “When you put real love into the world it comes back at you 3x’s as much… 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 is only going to make me stronger. On a long road keep praying for me!”
The Buffalo Bills have worked hard to stand beside Hamlin; the first thing they did was to approach the NFL and the NFLPA to get his rookie contract of $3.64 million for 4 years an adjustment. Their goal was to be able to pay him in full instead of the standard split clause designed to pay him less for landing on the injury reserve.
All Love For Damar
On game day, Hamlin arrived at Highmark Stadium and was joined by his mother, Nina, and 7-year-old brother, Damir. Before kickoff, the Hamlin family was escorted to a suite in the stadium where they watched a cold, snowy playoff game. Hamlin was applauded by both teams and fans in attendance for his safe return to Buffalo, and in return, he showed his appreciation for the overwhelming love and support he has received in the past few weeks.
