On January 2nd, the NFL community faced devastating news when during a week seventeen matchup, Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in a game against the Bengals. After suffering blunt force trauma to his chest when attempting to make a tackle, the Buffalo Bills safety attempted to stand up; however, he fell back down. “The game was absolutely devastating. With someone’s life at stake, the game became bigger than the sport of football. As a football fan, seeing a player go down like that is the worst possible thing that can happen. I am glad to hear that Damar is recovering well and pray for him and his family,” noted Gavin Do, a 9th-grade student at Corona del Mar High School. This tragic event forced the NFL to suspend the game even with consideration of the importance that the game had on NFL playoff standings.

All NFL teams and fanbases united together and prayed for the twenty-four-year-old who was battling for his life. In the following days, “players donned Hamlin’s No. 3 jersey from both the Bills and the University of Pittsburgh, and many wore black T-shirts displaying “Love for Damar 3.” Leading up to kickoff, NFL stadiums held a moment of silence and teams met at midfield for a moment of prayer in recognition of Hamlin’s ongoing recovery.” Bill Zhan, a 9th-grade student at CDM talked about how “it was great to see all the NFL fanbases unite together for a good cause.” When Hamlin woke up the first thing that came to mind was “who won the game?” Following this, Dr. Timothy Pritts told him “Damar, you won the game of life.” Hamlin has expressed lots of support and appreciation for his teammates in recent days. On January 7th, Hamlin tweeted that “It’s GameDay & There’s Nothing I Want More Than To Be Running Out That Tunnel With My Brothers”. Following this, the NFL community received positive news as on January 9th, Hamlin was released from the hospital.