NFL’s Hamlin fights for life

CRITICAL CONDITION

BUFFALO Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest during an NFL game, remained hospitalised in critical condition on Tuesday local time, while the league said the suspended contest would not resume this week.

The 24-year-old defensive back collapsed Monday night after receiving a hard hit in the chest while tackling receiver Tee Higgins during the first quarter of the Bills’ game at Cincinnati.

Medical workers restored Hamlin’s heartbeat on the field while working for 30 minutes as players from both teams wept and worried, the horrific scene viewed by a national television audience and a stadium crowd stunned into silence.

Hamlin was taken from the stadium in an ambulance and the pivotal contest between playoff-bound NFL clubs, led 7-3 by Cincinnati, was halted.

“Damar Hamlin spent last night in the intensive care unit and remains there today in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre,” the Bills said in a statement. “We are grateful and thankful for the outpouring of support we have received thus far.”

The NFL announced the Bills-Bengals game would not be completed this week, with no guarantee it would be finished, and said next weekend’s final regular-season games remain as scheduled.

“The NFL has made no decision regarding the possible resumption of the game at a later date,” an NFL statement said. “The league has not made any changes to the week 18 regular-season schedule.”

That means the NFL expects the Bills (12-3) to play host to New England (8-8) on Sunday (early Monday AEDT) in a game with playoff qualifying and seeding implications.

Dorrian Glenn, identified by CNN, ESPN and Buffalo television station WIVB as Hamlin’s uncle, said his nephew had to be resuscitated twice, once on the field and again after arriving at the hospital.

“It’s just heartbreaking seeing him like that,” Glenn said. “We were all in tears. I never cried so hard in my life just to know that my nephew basically died on the field and they brought him back to life … It really was a gut punch.”

WIVB reported Glenn said doctors had reduced Hamlin’s oxygen levels from 100 per cent to 50 per cent, a sign his breathing was stronger.

The NFL Players Association tweeted mental health and counselling information to all players in America’s most popular sport.

NFL players and supporters, including US President Joe Biden, hoped Hamlin, who remains sedated, will fully recover. “The President has seen the horrific news. We hope his condition and his health improves quickly,” White House spokeswoman Karine JeanPierre said.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show: “Your football mortality comes right face-toface.”