Damar Hamlin

I turned on the national news at 7AM this morning, and at the top of the show was the news about Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Hamlin was making a tackle and fell to the ground, got up and walked a few steps, then fell to the ground again, unconscious. His heart had stopped, the news people said. More likely, his heart had gone into atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm in which the heart quivers instead of beats. Therefore, his brain wasn't getting fresh oxygenated blood and he passed out. This can happen when the chest takes a hit at just the right spot above the heart and at a certain moment in the heart's rhythm. 

The NFL keeps about twenty medical specialists on the sidelines at every game. They rushed to Hamlin's side and began CPR. This continued for 9 minutes until his heart began beating on its own. They took him to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a level 1 trauma center about 10 minutes away.

Hamlin has a history of supporting charities, a history that began before he entered pro football. At the time of the on-field medical incident, he had a GoFundMe account that was trying to raise $2400 for a children's charity. When awareness of his accident spread, donations zoomed upward and surpassed three million dollars. When I checked, the top donation was $5,500. For those who would like to donate, you can donate here.

I've had several sudden attacks of atrial fibrilation (a-fib), but with me, my heart beats irregularly. It makes me feel exhausted. The first attack occurred in 2004. Two days in the hospital were able to restore my heartbeat. The next attack was in 2011, and again in 2013, and then again in 2014, in 2015, and in 2016. Each time, I was in the hospital for three days. Usually the treatment worked and I left the hospital with my heart beating normally. 

Except for the last attack. In 2016, the doctors were unable to fix my heart, and I left the hospital taking three medicines for my heart, and today—in 2023—my heart still has a-fib. My cardiologist wants to put me on another medication, a modern blood thinner, but I draw the line at three heart medicines. Besides, the next medication he wants me to take is considered by some medical experts to be too dangerous, and they think it shouldn't be on the market. Like some other meds, it's a two-edged sword. It can save you or kill you. It killed Charlie Daniels, the fiddle player and leader of The Charlie Daniels Band. He had a hemorrhagic stroke (a.k.a brain bleed) and by the time they got him to a hospital and gave him drugs to counteract the blood thinner he was taking—he was dead. I think God is going to take me when he wants me. I've known people who should be dead but through a "miracle" they lived. And I've know people who suddenly died much too young. 

I wish the best for Damar Hamlin. The last news I heard reported that he was still unconscious in the hospital. Good luck, Damar Hamlin. May you live to play another day.

[Update: According to the latest news at 6:30 PM, it appears that Damar Hamlin suffered from ventricular fibrillation, not atrial fibrillation. According to WebMD: "While not as common as AFib, ventricular fibrillation is more deadly. It can cause sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death, the leading killer in the U.S."]