Bills’ Hamlin sends message of kindness, courage and determination

From the moment Buffalo Bills safety and Western New York folk hero Damar Hamlin walked on stage in the Center for the Arts’ Mainstage Theatre Thursday night, he was all in.

He hugged the UB doctor who helped bring him back to life, folded his thin, tall frame into a chair, and then gave the heartfelt presentation of someone who had seen his own death up close only to return to share that experience with those who had watched it happen.

It was all there. The closing guest in this year’s Distinguished Speakers Series, Hamlin sent out a message of kindness, love, resilience, gratitude, joy and good humor.

He talked of spirituality (“staying connected with my higher power”), the mental preparation needed to turn a crisis into opportunity (finding “tools to use whenever these high-pressures moments come up that could knock us off our focus to be other than executing our jobs at the highest level”), his own fears and a Superbowl promise for those numerous audience members wearing Bills colors (“Stay patient with us. We got it right where we want it and where we need it. We’re getting closer and closer and closer.”).

Hamlin was a huge hit.

Who doesn’t remember watching the nationally televised Monday night football game on Jan. 2, 2023, when Hamlin suddenly collapsed unconscious after suffering cardiac arrest. Hamlin received CPR for about 10 minutes from medical staff that included Leslie Bisson, medical director for the Buffalo Bills and the June A. and Eugene R. Mindell, MD, Professor and Chair of Department of Orthopaedics at UB, who served as moderator for Hamlin’s DSS presentation.

For Buffalonians, it was a defining moment. Hamlin’s eventual return to the team captivated a nation. He became an overnight, celebrated figure.

The timing of Thursday’s DSS event couldn’t have been better. A day after he went from an unrestricted free agent to a one-year Bills contract extension, Hamlin walked onstage wearing a sequined brown and tan sweater, khaki pants, untied sneakers, a jeweled “3” medallion and his now-signature braids. Deftly guided by Bisson through almost 90 minutes of questions, Hamlin handled the session with the grace and ease of a seasoned toastmaster.

He rubbed his microphone on his forehead, bouncing his leg to applause and tapping into the clear joy of the audience — treating the near-capacity crowd to a commentary that had the sincerity and candor of a speaker who clearly cared about his audience.

“That’s an amazing question,” Hamlin responded, when asked his first question from a woman who had a similar near-death experience. How did he deal with the incessant attention of the worst thing that ever happened? Hamlin was the only person in the world she could relate to. And she thanked him for inspiring the nation.

“The biggest thing for me that kept me going was just staying active and continuing to pursue my dreams of everything I wanted to do,” Hamlin said. “When I was going through different doctors’ appointments and trying to get clarification if I could play or not, a lot of the doctors recommended I get out there and play football because they said it would help me overcome what happened to me.

“The first year, I was so thankful for my teammates. I was able to lean on them. They helped me push through the toughest moments. And the fact I kept pushing myself though the hardest moments early on made it so much easier for this past season to happen.”

Here are more excerpts from Hamlin’s heartwarming presentation:

On what makes a great leader on and off the field

“Someone who leads by example. Someone who can hold themselves accountable to what they are asking of everyone else, and pretty much lead from the front. That’s what I see each year from our captains. They are both leaders. They handle their business the right way, and they bring others along with them.

On the lives saved from his work distributing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and attention to CPR training

“I wish I could meet everyone and have a moment. That’s my favorite part, connecting with the people who have these experiences and share a moment because no one understands what it’s like besides the people who go through it.

“Life goes on, and everyone moves so fast, but those moments, they stay with you. It’s a unique, deep, emotional battle to deal with. I understand.”

On Bills Mafia (greeted with a clear “Hey Ey Ey Ey” voice from the crowd), and the outpouring of love and support from Bills fans

“Unbelievable. There is no feeling like it. Experiencing it at its highest peak, I could never wrap my head around it. It was insane. My family and I appreciated every ounce of love. We needed every prayer because it was ugly for us. I’m just glad the world was able to come together for a moment with love and prayer and peace. There are so many things that pull us away from each other. I can truly say the world was together all in one for a moment in time.”

What was the craziest and most memorable thing you have seen a Bills Mafia fan do?

“I have seen someone squirt ketchup and mustard all over his body, jump on a table and burn on a fire. They just roasted themselves like a hot dog.”

What advice would you give to someone going through a difficult time?

“Have a circle of people you can lean on. That’s a really good circumstantial, universal answer. It takes the pressure off. It allows you to disperse the emotions and stress that come from going through a tough situation. I had a support system of a few friends who were there before I opened my eyes. One of my friends came to my bedside with a poem he wrote before I was even fully functioning. Those genuine, good-hearted people to lean on when you don’t have all the answers. It makes all the difference.”

Bisson, who supervised a pre-event CPR clinic in the CFA atrium, said the “massive” focus on CPR following Hamlin’s injury underscored three important points: Each day there are 1,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the U.S.; without bystander CPR, only 10% of people having cardiac arrest survive; if these people get bystander CPR, it doubles to triples their chances of survival.

“You put those things together, and everybody should know bystander CPR,” Bisson said. “It works; it saves lives. If every person there tonight gets trained, we’ll probably save at least one life in the next year, and probably many more.”