Buffalo Bills cornerback Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals was one of the scariest sports incidents in recent memory.
Obviously medical emergencies have occurred in the past, but never on this massive of a stage. Not in the United States, at least.
Because of that, everything related to this incident fell under a microscope. Hamlin’s initial 3-word message after waking up. The Bills hero who saved his life. Joe Burrow’s classy move in the immediate aftermath. Everything.
That ‘everything’ also includes a lot of debate regarding what actually caused the heart of an otherwise healthy 24-year-old professional athlete to stop.
This week Hamlin sat down with Michael Strahan and asked that very question.
What caused Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest? Watch this and draw your own conclusions.
— Dr Aseem Malhotra (@DrAseemMalhotra) February 15, 2023
“You’re 24, peak physical condition,” Strahan said. “ … how did doctors describe what happened to you?”
That is when Hamlin offered something of an awkward response.
After hesitating for a few moments, Hamlin decided to steer away from answering the question.
“That’s something I’m going to stay away from,” he replied.
Strahan then tried to take a different route. He wondered if perhaps Hamlin had a previously unknown health concern that may have contributed to this.
“Honestly, no,” Hamlin replied.
“I’ve always been a healthy, young, fit, energetic human being. It was something that we’re still processing and still talking through with my doctors just to see what everything was.”
While no medical announcement had ever been made regarding what happened to Hamlin, the assumption everyone had was that it was commotio cordis.
Commotio cordis would have been brought on by the hit that Hamlin seemingly took to the chest before suffering cardiac arrest.
The happy couple celebrated Valentine’s Day right. https://t.co/ZOttbcswI5
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 15, 2023
That said, if commotio cordis was in fact what the problem was here, it’s odd that Hamlin wouldn’t just say so.
Obviously everyone can read into this situation as they will, but Hamlin’s avoidance when it came to zeroing in on what happened, particularly when he knows all the rumors and whatnot that exist, is objectively strange.
In any event, it’s great to see Hamlin up and seemingly getting healthy. That is the most important thing. Hopefully at some point in the future he does come out and clarify what precisely happened to him, though.
Related: Paige Spiranac’s Valentine’s Day Photos Go Viral
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
