Monday’s incident with Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals was a scene all too familiar for a former Utah State athlete.
Former Aggies basketball player Daniel Berger says that watching Hamlin collapse brought back memories of a similar situation he experienced in 2013. Berger and his teammates were practicing for a game against BYU when he, just like Hamlin, collapsed and went into cardiac arrest before medical crews performed CPR and used an Automated External Defibrillator to get his heart beating again.
Dr. John Ryan, a cardiologist and professor at the University of Utah, says that it’s unlikely for someone to survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Ryan says that nine out ten people don’t survive and that every minute counts when it comes to survival and reducing the possibility of brain damage.
Ryan believes that what caused Hamlin to go into cardiac arrest was something called “Commotio Cordis,” saying that the impact he received to the chest resulted in an abnormal heart rhythm.
Ryan and other medical officials are encouraging everyone to learn how to perform CPR and be well-educated on the use of AEDs to help save their life if they ever experience a cardiac arrest.
