On Monday, January 2nd, America watched Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin take a hit to the chest while tackling Cincinnati Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins. It was a hard hit, but nothing unusual for the physical game of football. Hamlin quickly got up from the hit, but immediately collapsed to the ground. Initially, we were given very little details about his injury, other than that they had to use and AED to shock his heart back into rhythm and gave him CPR for 9 minutes. Rightly so, the game was eventually suspended as his teammates and the nation anxiously awaited any good news from Damar. Fortunately, it now appears that he is finally starting to recover. We should continue to pray that he makes a full recovery.
Not long after Hamlin went down, the social media world exploded with people trying to make sense of what happened. Everyone on Twitter suddenly became an expert cardiologist. I knew it was too soon and that we did not have enough information to make any speculations at the time, so I refrained from posting about the play until the next day, after gathering information from some trusted experts. From my research, I concluded that there were only two real possible explanations for what happened, which I will examine in this article and allow you to make an informed decision.
The first, which was quickly pushed by doctors being interviewed by mainstream news outlets, is a rare cardiac injury called commotio cordis. The Cleveland Clinic defines it as a condition in which an abnormal heart rhythm (ventricular fibrillation) and cardiac arrest happen immediately upon an object striking the chest directly over the heart at a very critical time during a heartbeat. Many have accepted this conclusion without giving it a second thought. And while it does make sense in theory, there are some things that need to be considered before ruling out all other possibilities.
A study published in JAMA in 2002 analyzed 128 cases of commotio cordis. The researchers found that the median age of those who suffered commotion cordis was 14, and only 22% of the cases were aged 18 years or older. They also noted that 44% were 12 years or younger. Considering Hamlin is 24, there is a much lower probability that his cardiac arrest was caused by this already rare condition.
The study also found that “Of 107 commotio cordis events that were regarded as part of competitive or other sporting activities, 87 (81%) involved a blunt precordial blow from a projectile (which served as a standard implement of the game), or another object propelled against a stationary chest wall, resulting in relatively localized contact, during organized or recreational play.” These projectiles were most commonly baseballs (50%), but also included softballs, hockey pucks, and lacrosse balls. This is not to say that a tackle in a football game could not have caused Damar’s injury, as 19% of the 107 cases resulted from “chest blows delivered by physical contact with another person.” But again, this is still looking to be statistically unlikely.
As previously mentioned, if Hamlin’s cardiac arrest wasn’t caused by commotio cordis, there is only one other likely explanation. Since the release of the covid vaccines, reports of young athletes “dying suddenly” have flooded vaccine skeptic’s social media accounts. While these claims have largely been deemed “medical misinformation” by social media companies and the mainstream media, there is plenty of evidence to lend them credibility. There are currently 26,045 cases of myocarditis (heart inflammation) attributed to the covid vaccines that are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). These numbers are believed to be underreported by a factor of 26. There are also 15,970 heart attacks listed in VAERS, again likely underreported.
In October of last year, the Florida Surgeon General released new guidance for the mRNA covid vaccines based on a state-conducted analysis through a self-controlled case series. The analysis found that there is an “84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.” After reviewing the data, the state now recommends against 18-39 year old males getting the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.
Even the FDA has admitted that there are risks of myocarditis associated with the vaccine. As early as June of 2021, the FDA announced “revisions to the patient and provider fact sheets for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines regarding the suggested increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart) following vaccination.” For each vaccine, the fact sheet vaccine providers has been revised to include a warning about these conditions. These warnings were based on data reviewed by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
While we now know that myocarditis is a proven side effect of the covid vaccines, we still do not know for certain that Damar Hamlin was vaccinated. However, it is easy to assume so considering 95% of NFL players are vaccinated. There have been some notable players including Aaron Rodgers and even Damar’s teammate Cole Beasley who have refused to get the shot, but these players made big headlines for their stance. There is a good chance that if he didn’t get the shot, we would have heard about it before now.
The greatest problem with the theory that his injury was caused by vaccine-induced myocarditis is that it seems unlikely that taking a hit to the chest immediately before his collapse had nothing to do with it. As previously mentioned, it wasn’t an abnormal hit for the NFL, but it’s hard to believe that it was just a coincidence. There is one more study that I believe could connect the dots for us.
A case study published in March of 2021 examined two incidents of “life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia secondary to non-penetrating blunt chest trauma while playing contact sports.” The first incident was in a 26 year old male who briefly lost consciousness after receiving a blunt impact to the chest during a rugby match. His complete loss of consciousness was proceeded by rapid and regular heart palpitations. He had a history of viral myocarditis 10 years prior. The second case was a 22 year old professional rugby player who suffered a cardiac arrest after he received a direct blow to the chest during a match. The patient died despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An autopsy revealed signs of previous myocarditis. Based on these two cases, the authors concluded that myocarditis “may increase the risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias caused by blunt impact to the chest, particularly in contact sports.”
Based on all the evidence reviewed in this article, particularly from the 2021 case study of the two rugby players, I believe that the most likely cause of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest was vaccine-induced myocarditis aggravated by the blow to the chest. In my opinion, undetected myocarditis can easily explain how a perfectly normal football tackle could have such devastating consequences. But don’t take my opinion as gospel, I have given plenty of information for you to start forming your own opinions. I am open to hearing other theories if you disagree with me on this case. Regardless of the cause of this particular incident, I think we could all agree that professional athletes, especially high contact sports, should be screened for myocarditis to help prevent more of these cases.