Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a major injury in the week 17 game against Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on Monday. Hamlin collapsed on the field after a tackle and had to be administered CPR. It has not yet been confirmed if he suffered cardiac arrest.
Immediately after his injury, an ambulance came onto the field, and Hamlin was taken to the hospital. His mother Mario Hamlin traveled to the hospital in the ambulance with him, while his father Mario Hamlin was not at the stadium.
The McKees Rocks neighborhood, where Hamlin grew up, was fraught with drugs and guns. To overcome the family’s financial difficulties, Hamlin’s father Mario took to selling drugs at one point. He was arrested and spent 3.5 years in prison when his son Damar was growing up.
His mother Nina Hamlin ran a daycare and together with Mario she founded an office cleaning business.
After his father was arrested, Damar would go to school in the morning, and practice football in the afternoon, after a meal he would then go to his mother to help with the daycare. After that, he would accompany him to clean officers.
Buffalo Bills selected Hamlin in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, 212th overall. On May 21, 2021, he agreed to a four-year rookie deal with Buffalo.
When Micah Hyde suffered a neck injury that ended his season in week 2, Hamlin, who had spent his rookie season as a reserve, was promoted to one of the starting safeties for the Bills.
