WRN Newsletter

Home Breaking News Damar Hamlin Video: Condition Critical After CPR Attempted

Damar Hamlin Video: Condition Critical After CPR Attempted

Damar Hamlin video: CPR was attempted on the field after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on January 2, 2023, in a dramatic scene that had fellow players in tears and praying for his recovery. You can watch videos from the scene throughout this story.

What is his condition? CNN reported on January 3, 2023, that Hamlin remains in critical condition after suffering cardiac arrest. CNN published a memo sent by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. It reads, in part:

During last night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. Damar experienced cardiac arrest and was promptly resuscitated by on-site club physicians and independent medical personnel, all of whom are highly trained in implementing the plans for medical emergencies. Damar was stabilized and transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a Level One trauma center, where he remains in the ICU.

After speaking with both teams and NFLPA leadership, I decided to postpone last night’s game and have our focus remain on Damar and his family. We are in regular contact with both clubs and with the medical team caring for Damar and will share additional information as we receive it…

A short time ago, and after discussions with the two teams and the NFLPA, we advised Buffalo and Cincinnati that last night’s game will not be resumed this week. No decision has been made regarding the possible resumption of the game at a later date and we have not announced any changes to this weekend’s schedule. We will promptly advise all clubs of any decisions that are made regarding these matters. If you have any questions in the meantime, please call me or any of our senior staff.

Jordon Rooney, Hamlin’s marketing representative, tweeted, “Update on Damar: 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.”

“I am told that Damar Hamlin, 24, has been intubated and is currently listed in critical condition,” tweeted Cincinnati news anchor Tricia Macke.

See the Damar Hamlin video here:

Unverified reports spread on Twitter that Damar Hamlin is dead, but they are false per Rooney’s tweet. The NFL’s latest update confirms instead that Hamlin is in critical condition, and a Fox19 reporter tweeted that Hamlin has a pulse.

Fox 19 reporter Joe Danneman tweeted, “I’m told Damar Hamlin has a pulse, but is not breathing on his own. He is being transported to UC. Needed AED and CPR on the field.”

 

According to VideoMixtape.com, “Dr. Jonathan Reiner says Damar Hamlin who is in critical condition suffered a cardiac arrest called commotio cordis caused by a sharp blow to the chest.”

The injury came during the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was stopped as an ambulance came on field to treat Hamlin, and the game was called.

Hamlin recently tweeted about being blessed:

The video of the injury has had millions of views online. It’s a disturbing scene as the football player suddenly collapses after a play.

Video later showed the ambulance carrying Hamlin arriving at a Cincinnati hospital:

After a hard hit, Hamlin seemed okay briefly before suddenly collapsing on the field and falling backward. It took a moment for the announcers to realize that something very serious had occurred.

Other Buffalo bills players cried and prayed as an ambulance entered the field to help Damar Hamlin, a sign that something very serious had occurred.


Other Damar Hamlin Videos

Here are some other Damar Hamlin videos of the frightening moment:

Fans rallied around Hamlin, offering prayers for him:

Sports photographer Chetan Rakietan wrote on Twitter, “Powerful scene Sean McDermott gathered the team to pray for Damar Hamlin. Let the game be suspended for a long period. Powerful scene. Pray for Damar Hamlin.”

According to TMZ, CPR was performed on Hamlin “for several minutes” because he was “eventually strapped to a backboard and then loaded onto a stretcher.”

In a profile story to the Democrat and Chronicle, Hamlin spoke about the influence of his mother: “Wednesdays were always the longest day,” he told the newspaper. “My mom would be working at the daycare from six in the morning till six at night and then we would go clean our accounts until like 10 or 12 depending on the day. Just stepping up to the plate, just being there for my mom, just trying to make it easy for her. I had that work ethic in me, that we’re like, nothing can ever be too much.”

The newspaper article describes Hamlin’s inspiring story, of rising to professional football from a tough childhood. It says that he was a “2021 sixth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills,” who lost friends to gun violence and whose father Mario Hamlin sold drugs and ended up spending time in prison. Hamlin’s mom is named Nina, according to that story.

People offered prayers for Damar Hamlin on social media.

 


What is commotio cordis?

Commotio cordis is a severe condition caused when severe shocks or injuries to the chest result in an irregular heartbeat, and commotio cordis usually results in sudden death. Commotio cordis usually involves young, mostly male, athletes, in whom a sudden, blunt, non-penetrating, harmless-looking injury to the front of the chest results in cardiac arrest and sudden death due to ventricular fibrillation. 

Ventricular fibrillation and sudden death caused by a sudden, blunt, nonpenetrating, and often innocent-appearing, nonintentional strike to the chest with no injury to ribs, sternum, or heart (and without any underlying cardiovascular pathology) is an event known as commotio cordis, translated from Latin as a beating of the heart. Ventricular fibrillation and sudden death triggered by a blunt, non penetrating, and often innocent appearing unintentional blow to the chest without damage to the ribs, sternum, or heart (and in the absence of underlying cardiovascular disease) constitute an event know as commotio cordis, which translates from the Latin as agitation of the heart. It results in the disruption of normal cardiac electrical activity caused by the impact on an area immediately above the heart, in the region of the precordial vein, followed immediately by cardiac fibrillation, causing ventricular fibrillation, causing a complete breakdown in heart pumping function. If an individual is struck in the chest at a particular point during a heartbeat cycle, heart electrical signals may become disrupted, leading to the heart stopping. 

If no primary cardiac problems are found, and no additional injuries are present due to sudden cardiac arrest (stopping the heart) or blunt trauma, then typically no restrictions on returning to play competitive sports are placed. While underlying arrhythmias do not automatically exclude sports participation, if the ventricular tachyarrhythmia is frequent, it might require a sports-related exclusion because of its link with sudden cardiac death.  

Sudden unexpected cardiac deaths occurring in youth while participating in sports are typically associated with structural or primary electrical abnormalities of the heart, either diagnosed previously or not. Less recognized are those sports-field disasters where cardiac arrest is produced by blunt, direct strikes delivered directly into the chest from high-velocity rockets and objects, such as baseballs or hockey pucks, during sports activities, without any discernible morphologic damage to the sternum, ribs, or the heart itself (commotio cordis).  

In the Baseball Archive from 1900-1910, 19 deaths were reported caused by balls struck over the heart.9 Lacrosse, with increasing popularity, reports an increasing frequency of commotio cordis occurrences. Other common sports where commotio cordis has occurred are hockey and softballs, but commotio cordis has been described. In a 1900 to 1910 archival baseball report, there were 19 reported deaths caused by ball strikes over the heart. Lacrosse, with its increased popularity, is reporting a rising incidence of commotio cordis events. Other common sports in which commotio cordis occur are hockey and softball, yet commotio cordis has been described in nearly all sports, Although the early reports were limited to primarily organized, competitive sports, especially baseball, our continued interest in commotio cordis, and the increasing visibility and exposure of public information in the last 6 years, allowed for the systematic collection of large cohorts.  

In the last 2 or 3 decades, commotio cordis events have primarily occurred in sports, and thus, commotio cordis has become more well-known to the sports community and physicians. Commotio cordis needs to be distinguished from cardiac contusion (condusio cordis), a situation in which blunt chest trauma causes structural damage to the heart, as seen in motor vehicle crashes. Due to the cardiac fibrillation and resulting cardiac outflow into vital organs, the mortality rate for commotio cordis (Latin) is higher, indicated by two studies at 72%-75%, and survival significantly declines if no effective resuscitation is performed within three minutes after an impact event. Whether syncope associated with percussion on the chest wall is a discontinued commotio cordis event due to unsustained ventricular fibrillation or temporary total heart block has yet to be determined. 

In the experimental studies on impact by a solid ball on the chest wall, impact occurring directly above the left ventricle core was the most likely to result in ventricular fibrillation. Nearly all of the commotio events were caused by baseball hits directed at the left chest wall above the heart contour. In competitive sports-related commotio events, about a third of individuals are wearing chest wall protectors when they have cardiac arrest. 

Chest wall protection has been thoroughly studied, and is encouraged for use during sports such as baseball and softball. Chest shields and vests are designed to lessen the injury caused by a blow to the body, but many chest protectors sold commercially offer no protection against the Commotio cordis (Latin for “squirm”) and can provide a false sense of safety. In this study, we characterize in greater detail the evolving and heterogeneous clinical profiles of thoracic impact injuries that result in sudden death.

For cases where electrocardiographic data are available, ventricular tachyarrhythmia is the most frequently implicated substrate in chest-blow-induced sudden death, as has been demonstrated previously in our experimental animal models.17-20,24 Such ventricular tachyarrhythmias are typically identified on scene and at the ED, and are also the shockable rhythms in those cases where survival is attributed to the availability and use of an automatic external defibrillator. A punch may induce ventricular tachycardia, referring to an abnormally rapid pulse in the lower chambers of the heart.

In Buffalo Bills safety Damarr Hamlins case, the good news is he was revived on the field, which will improve his chances of surviving, although he remains in critical condition at the hospital. Brien Barnewolt, a physician at Tufts Medical Centers Emergency Department, said Hamlin appeared to suffer from a heart episode, perhaps a commotio cordis — seen frequently when athletes are struck by a heavy object to the chest, which causes them to stop breathing. Brien Barnewolt stressed he is not Hamlins physician, nor does he know the players medical history.

Cited Sources

 

Exit mobile version