Damar Hamlin admits he ‘is still processing’ trauma of on-field cardiac arrest

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is still processing his traumatic cardiac arrest on the field during Monday Night Football on January 2.

Hamlin collapsed on the field after a collision with Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during the Bills’ Week 17 game against Cincinnati.

In his first interview since the incident, the 24-year-old told Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan that he had seen success “once or twice” while in ICU, but admitted he’s having a hard time seeing it again.

When asked if he remembered getting up after landing the hit, he also confessed that it was something he “didn’t want to go into too much detail about.”

“Just a crazy feeling,” Hamlin told Strahan. ‘Something I can’t describe yet, something I’m still processing and something I’m trying to figure out, you know, why did that happen to me?’

Hamlin insisted that he was “doing great” physically, but admitted emotionally that he is still trying to process the trauma of the events.

“I’m very good, you know, every morning, every morning, every night, I take ten deep breaths to myself and it puts everything in perspective for me,” he said.

‘I’m still working on things. I’m still trying to process all the emotions and trauma that comes from dealing with a situation like that, and no one in my immediate circle has ever dealt with anything like that.

He also revealed that the goal is to return to the football field, but stated that it was a difficult situation for the doctors who advised him, since it was ultimately his decision.

“Eventually, that’s always the goal,” Hamlin said. “As a competitor, I try to do things just to keep improving my situation. But leaving that in the hands of God. I am grateful that he is giving me a second chance.

It is a difficult situation. They, you know, they can’t really tell because it’s up to me. It’s a long road, and they’re just worried about trying to get me back to normal as much as they can.’

She talked about her first memories of waking up in the hospital and hearing her loved ones around her.

Asked what was the first thing she remembered about waking up, Hamlin said: “I just heard family members, my mom and dad, friends who were there listening to certain people, certain conversations around me, and trying to unite everything”. .’

He added: ‘The first thing I said when I woke up was, did we win?’

Laughing Strahan said it showed Hamlin was an ‘athlete’ with his mind still on the game.

“I’m competitive and I’m playing with all my heart and everything in me,” Hamlin agreed. ‘That competitive nature in me was still there, and I was like, did I win?’

The nurses told Hamlin that he had won. They told the safety that he had “won the game of life.”

“Just saying you won the game of life,” he added, “that put things in perspective for me, you know, listening to the doctor, things could have been different and the situational details of everything that happened on the field , that could have been the last of me.

The NFL requires athletes to have physicals, but Hamlin said his tests have never indicated a heart condition.

“I’ve always been a healthy, young, fit and energetic human being, let alone an athlete,” he said. “It was something we’re still processing and I’m still talking to my doctors just to see what it was all about.”

Hamlin had surprised his Bills teammates on a Zoom call from the hospital and flexed his muscles to give them a lift.

“As soon as I got the zoom call I felt it was important to show them strength so they could keep going and they were so happy to see me,” he said. “So that was like a breath of fresh air.”

He also admitted that it was hard watching his teammates take the field while cheering them on for their Week 18 game against the New England Patriots.

“It was very hard,” he said. ‘It was very hard. It was an uncomfortable feeling. I couldn’t install at all.

Hamlin spoke in his first interview since being resuscitated on the grass at Paycor Stadium by Bills medical personnel.

The 24-year-old has spent much of the past two months recuperating in western New York and made a brief appearance at a Bills-Bengals playoff game at Orchard Park, waving to fans from a luxury suite on the Highmark Stadium crowd.

Bills medical staff member Denny Kellington successfully resuscitated him by performing CPR for approximately nine minutes before Hamlin was rushed to a Cincinnati hospital. He was later transferred to a Buffalo medical center and has since been released.

I owe Denny my life literally. He loved to say that he was just doing his job, which is true, but that night he saved my life by giving me CPR, and that’s something I’m grateful for and I don’t take it for granted.

Hamlin was joined on stage at the NFL Honors on Thursday night and everyone received a warm welcome from the crowd at State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona on Sunday night.