On January 2nd, during a regular Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills Safety Damar Hamlin suddenly fell down after making a tackle. The Bills’ medical staff rushed onto the field, and after Hamlin remained unresponsive, they began CPR. He was then put in an ambulance and rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center while in critical condition, while the football game was postponed and then canceled. Hamlin’s teammates were seen crying and praying as they were unsure if their teammate would survive. 

Fortunately, after remaining in intensive care for almost a week, Hamlin was transported to a different hospital and eventually discharged. Hamlin made an appearance at the Bills’ divisional playoff game, also against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In response to the terrifying event, people wanted to support Hamlin in any way they could. The main way people did this was donating to his charity, the Chasing M’s Foundation. The Chasing M’s Foundation was created by Hamlin in 2020, with the goal of using his platform to give back to children in his community, and to say thank you for the support he had received on his journey to the NFL. The Chasing M’s Foundation originally had a goal of raising 2,500 dollars for a toy drive. As of today, they have raised over 9 million dollars, and in an update posted on the Go Fund Me page, his family said that they would use this money to support toy drives, back-to-school drives, and kids camps. Hamlin has also used this event as an opportunity to raise money for first responders. After awakening from a medically induced coma, the very first thing he asked the people around him was, “Did we win? ”. Hamlin has now gone on to sell T-Shirts with this phrase, and proceeds will go to first responders and to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.