We learned some new things — or perhaps had our knowledge reaffirmed — by the frightening episode that began with the Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field Monday night in Cincinnati.
First, we have been reminded of the professionalism and skill so many medical people acquire because of their devotion to easing pain, making people well — or indeed to saving lives. It’s been made clear that the quick, decisive actions taken by the Bills’ training staff were the difference in making possible the more recent, positive news of Hamlin’s improving condition.
Far more than simply being on hand to tape ankles, apply ice and ensure hydration, team trainers and medical staff — from the highest levels of professional sports to high school — must be prepared for any scenario in which an athlete’s life could suddenly hang in the balance.
The episode also served as a strong reminder that the more members of any community know CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) the better. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nine out of 10 people who have cardiac arrest outside of a hospital don’t survive. CPR, if performed in the first few minutes, doubles or triples a person’s chance of survival.
Also, AEDs should be available at all athletic events — at every level of play — particularly for sports where blows to the chest are more likely. New York requires every school to have an AED and one is supposed to be on site at all school-sponsored athletic contests. As The Era’s Jeff Uveino wrote earlier this week, Bradford Area High School makes it policy to have an athletic trainer and AED on hand at sports events.
Meanwhile, the fans of the Buffalo Bills are renowned for their passion and loyalty regarding each season and their team’s prospects — but they are also renowned for their kind hearts and generosity. Hamlin’s modest GoFundMe charity to buy toys and provide other benefits for children has seen an avalanche of donations that surged past the $7 million mark as of Thursday. Many NFL players and indeed fans across the nation have donated as well, but Bills fans were at the core of the effort and have shown again they are leaders in the giving department.
They gave $1.1 million in $17 increments to Oishei Children’s Hospital of Buffalo after learning that QB Josh Allen (No. 17) played a terrific game with a heavy heart over his grandmother’s death. A few years ago, Bills fans flooded NFL QB Andy Dalton’s charity with hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations after Dalton’s late-game heroics — playing for the Bengals — knocked the Baltimore Ravens out of the playoffs and put the Bills in.
We’ve also been reminded of the humanity and care that young men — supremely conditioned, incredibly fast and strong and in many cases incredibly large — can show when one of their own faces a crisis far beyond the usual parameters of the game. As that scene on the Cincinnati field unfolded, it was difficult for many fans to watch as fear and anguish grew on the faces of players they admire and cheer for so much. Only the most callous could not feel empathy for what they were going through and accept the reality that football had to stop at least while their brother was fighting to live.
Perhaps above all other professional sports figures in America, NFL players are held in regard for their explosive abilities — in many cases for their ability to physically, aggressively impose their will on their opponent. While Hamlin lay on that field and then was carried off in an ambulance, they were reminded of life’s potential frailties and that no amount of physical prowess is a guarantee against tragedy.
The Bills players and coaches, along with players, coaches and figures throughout and around the game, have humbly showed tenderness and love for a teammate or fellow NFL’er in a dire situation. As many have expressed, they see Damar Hamlin as a brother.
The NFL is a lot of things, not least a contradiction. Its hyper-competitive, meat-grinding existence most often obscures individuals and, in its darkest place, lessens the human value of those who can’t perform well enough. Yet teams are also sources of wonderful, region-uplifting entertainment and pride. Meanwhile, the players, more and more, have become forces for good in the communities they play for.
It has been said often this past week that the NFL, particularly for the fraternity of the players, is an extended family. The Buffalo Bills in particular have given us a good example of what a strong family looks like when it deals with true crisis.
(Jim Eckstrom is the executive editor of Bradford Publishing Co.)
