The entire country has united in thought, prayer and charitable giving in support of Damar Hamlin since her cardiac arrest on the field Monday.
However, the show must go on, and two college football teams will play the biggest game of their lives on Monday night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart heads into the tunnel before a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 31, 2022 in Atlanta.
(Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
The national championship between No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 TCU will be played out a week after the terrifying incident in Cincinnati.
Prior to the news of Hamlin’s improving health, several NFL players seemed undecided about playing this weekend. But the Bulldogs and Horned Frogs are gearing up for the biggest game of the college football season.
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Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was not watching the Bills-Bengals game. He was watching a movie at TCU to prepare for the title game.
However, Georgia athletic trainer Ron Courson saw Hamlin’s meltdown and knew the staff needed to address it with the team, Smart said.
Smart said they had a mental health specialist and a team chaplain with the team the next day, but «it was important to us» to educate the team on exactly what happened to Hamlin.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin warms up before a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, 2023 at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.
(Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BILLS’ DAMAR HAMLIN REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION, CONTINUES TO PROGRESS AFTER CARDIAC ARREST
«Thank God we have Ron Courson, who is a track trainer for almost 30 years. He was a track trainer to me, and he immediately reached out to me. We were studying and watching a tape preparing for TCU, and he reached out to me. and he said to me and he said, ‘We need to address it with our team…'» Smart told Fox News Digital on the national championship media day on Saturday.
«Ron educated the players on what exactly happened and how weird [it is], but it can happen. And you have to have people on site to save lives. And what an amazing job they did on the scene to make sure he had a chance to recover from this. The educational part was important for us to guarantee our players that the security measures are there.»
Medical experts weighed in on the injury, saying Hamlin likely suffered a commotio cordis, an arrhythmia caused by a well-timed blow to the chest.
«That was not a severe blow, but a moderate blow directly to the chest. The most common would be something called commotio cordis, which is Latin for ‘stirring of the heart,'» Dr. Marc Siegel said Tuesday in «fox and friends.»
Buffalo Bills fans attend a candlelight prayer vigil for player Damar Hamlin at Highmark Stadium on January 3, 2023 in Orchard Park, New York.
(Timothy T. Ludwig/Getty Images)
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Hamlin underwent CPR on the field for more than nine minutes, and medical staff also used a defibrillator. Doctors from the University of Cincinnati Health said the «immediate recognition» of Hamlin’s serious condition by Bills staff saved Hamlin’s life.
«Unfortunately, there are occasionally injuries that occur on sports fields, whether soccer or otherwise, but it’s incredibly rare for something this serious to happen like this. And to be so quickly recognized, what they did was immediately order an emergency action plan. .» Dr. William Knight told reporters on Thursday.