Hamlin said the triggers and PTSD symptoms that plagued him throughout the 2023 season are largely gone. He is largely back to himself as a player and is going full throttle without hesitation to help the Bills win their fifth consecutive AFC East title.
And he has taken a monumental step on his long, difficult path to redefining himself.
“People move on with their lives and think about it when they see me,” he said. “I can’t move on. It’s a part of me. I still have flashbacks sometimes. And in everyday life I definitely think about it. I’ve learned to appreciate those moments in my life.”
“But now when I play a game, those three hours, I only think about football.”
I spoke with Hamlin several times during his recovery. As he reflected on that painfully traumatic moment in his life and the 21 months that followed, his words seemed to somehow ooze joy. He told stories about how his parents, Nina and Mario, built a household based on giving and gratitude despite their limited financial means. So that night in Cincinnati changed him, but it didn’t break him.
It was a key game as Hamlin’s Bills traveled to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Monday Night Football in Week 17 of the 2022 season. The AFC’s first playoff spot was at stake. Hamlin, then a starting safety in his second professional season, tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins after a pass reception in the first quarter. Hamlin stood upright for two seconds and then collapsed on the field. The Bills’ training staff quickly recognized that he had an abnormal heart rhythm; CPR was started and he was quickly defibrillated. He had no pulse for a short time before he was resuscitated.
The medical term for what happened is: he suffered cardiac arrest followed by return of spontaneous circulation. Hamlin has his own simple way of explaining it:
“I died on national television in front of the whole world.”
For a week, there was uncertainty about whether Damar would survive, whether he would lead a normal life, and whether he would ever be able to play the game he loved again.
For Hamlin, it was a no-brainer – within days of regaining his mental faculties and speech, he decided to return to football. This was not easy for those around him who spent days in the hospital praying for his recovery, especially his parents.
But now they are simply beaming with joy that their son has become an inspiration to them and millions of other people around the world.
“I watch him now just like I did when I was playing Little League football. We don’t live in fear,” Mario Hamlin, Damar’s father, told me Monday. “I can’t disregard that blessing. People have some morals. This is one of them. His preparation and his work to come back has earned him this moment of glory.”
In April 2023, Hamlin was cleared for all football activities. This year, he made the Bills’ roster primarily as a special teams player and struggled mentally to overcome hurdles.
Last spring, Hamlin told Bills general manager Brandon Beane that he would earn a starting spot despite the competition Beane brought at safety, particularly second-round pick Cole Bishop and sixth-year pro Mike Edwards. No hesitation, no doubt. Bishop and Edwards were sidelined with injuries. Hamlin, on the other hand, earned the Bills’ trust with the best training camp of his professional career and developed good chemistry with fellow starter Taylor Rapp.
On September 4, 611 days after he nearly died and was resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati, Hamlin was re-named the starting safety by Bills head coach Sean McDermott. He played all 61 defensive snaps in the Bills’ Week 1 comeback win over the Cardinals, making four tackles and allowing just one catch for 7 yards as the next defender. He was involved in the final deep pass defense that sealed the win.
“What else can’t this young man do? What an accomplishment,” McDermott said after Hamlin was named the starter. “We’re just extremely proud and grateful to watch him do what he’s been through and where he is now.”
As the Bills prepare to play the speedy Miami Dolphins in primetime Thursday night, Hamlin knows his story will be revisited for the world to see. He told me he’s heard trolls on social media question his ability to play or derisively call him a clone. He said he often fights the urge to respond to them, choosing instead to soak in the expressions of love he’s received from so many others.
“I hope people understand that I came from nothing, so when you see me being blessed, please clap your hands,” Hamlin told me. “I beat the statistics as a kid. Before my cardiac arrest, I really shouldn’t have been here. This is all hard work.”
