In week 17 of the NFL, a matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals ended in a cancellation due to an injury to safety Damar Hamlin. On the field, Hamlin collapsed after being hit by wide receiver Tee Higgins of the Bengals. Damar received CPR on the field for a near ten minutes before being stretched off and taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. There is where Hamlin was put onto a breathing tube and was listed in critical condition. 

As of January 9, Damar has woken up and been breathing on his own. According to WSAZ, his first words after waking up were “Did we win?” A doctor at the hospital responded, “You won Damar, you won the game of life,” which is now a shirt Damar is selling to benefit the first responders (WSAZ). 

According to WBKO, Many doctors believe that what caused the cardiac arrest for Hamlin was commotio cordis, a very rare case of the heart being hit in a 30 millisecond time frame. In many cases, if not treated immediately, commotio cordis can result in death. With the fast response of medics in the stadium he was luckily treated and has seemingly recovered well. 

With many injuries in the NFL, Damar Hamlin has brought the community of Buffalo together and had everybody talking about his freak accident. Every social media site you looked on and in day to day talk, it seemed every person was talking about Damar’s injury and praying for him. All NFL teams putting their profile pictures as “Pray for Damar” shows the community built by all teams and the sports world as a whole.