NFL player Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field during a game last season and was hospitalized.
25-year-old Hamlin revealed that he was diagnosed with commotio cordis.
Commotio cordis commonly occurs from an impact to the left chest. It caused sudden cardiac arrest due to the specific location and angle of the impact.
This sometimes occurs when hit with a hardball, such as a baseball. Hamlin’s heart is structurally normal and he is returning to the NFL to continue his career.
“He is fully cleared. He’s here, and he is of the mindset. He’s in a great headspace to come back and make his return,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said.
“I’m blessed,” Hamlin told reporters.
“The diagnosis of, pretty much, what happened to me was commotio cordis,” Hamlin said.
The condition is pronounced “ke-MO-she-o-KORD-is.” It’s Latin for “agitation of the heart.”
“It’s a direct blow at a specific point in your heartbeat that causes cardiac arrest,” he said. “Five to seven seconds later, you fall out, and that’s pretty much what everybody’s seen Jan. 2 of this year.”
This condition is “the leading cause of death in youth athletes across all sports.”
“So, that’s something that I personally will be taking a step in to make a change,” he said.
“I died on national TV in front of the whole world,” he added. “I’m trusting God. I’m walking by faith.”
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In an interview with Michael Strahan on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in February, the host asked him to discuss what caused his collapse.
“Umm … That’s something I want to stay away from,” Hamlin said at the time.
The American Heart Association issued a fact sheet about commotio cordis soon after Hamlin addressed the media Tuesday.
The association added, “Put simply, it’s a rare cardiac arrest immediately following a blow to the chest. The impact induces a potentially lethal heart rhythm disturbance, or arrhythmia, called ventricular fibrillation.”