Millions of prayers can be heard all around the world from football fans as there was a sad event that happened Monday night. Buffalo Bills safety, Damar Hamlin, suffered cardiac arrest during Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2. As everyone watched the play happen, it went from a regular tackle to someone’s worst nightmare on the football field. 

Tee Higgins caught a pass and Damar Hamlin made the tackle. It was a bit of an aggressive hit but Hamlin and Higgins both looked fine for the first 5 seconds after the play was over, and then Hamlin hit the ground. Initially everyone thought it could’ve been a normal head injury, until it got dead serious in the stadium and paramedics had to perform CPR on Hamlin as his heart stopped. Sources say his heart was stopped for around 3 minutes before they resuscitated him. Once he had a pulse they had already had an ambulance waiting for him outside of the stadium. 

Players and fans throughout the stadium waited with tears in their eyes as they feared for their teammate. As prayers continued to fill the air, Damar Hamlin was transported off of the field and the two teams agreed to suspend the game. At first it looked like they might resume playing until Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, called the game early. Calling the game was a good decision as this is much bigger than just a game. 

Medical personnel performed CPR on Hamlin for multiple minutes. Although Hamlin’s uncle indicated resuscitation was twice required following his nephew’s cardiac arrest, the family said Wednesday, the 24-year-old defensive back only needed to be resuscitated once. That instance occurred on the field at Paycor Stadium. Damar remains under sedation in the ICU at the University Of Cincinnati Medical Center. Hamlin is on a ventilator, and reports indicated he had progressed from needing 100% of the ventilator’s oxygen to requiring around 50% by Tuesday night, which is indeed a great sign. 

The NFL has not announced a resumption date for the Week 17 matchup, but it will not be resumed this week. Bills players traveled back to Buffalo on Tuesday morning. The team remains scheduled to host the Patriots on Sunday. Rather than going through a typical Wednesday practice ahead of a Sunday game, the Bills announced they will hold a walkthrough.