On January 2, 2023, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was looking forward to beating the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead, it turned into something no one inside the stadium, or watching from home, could process. After taking a hit to the chest from Tee Higgins while making a tackle, Hamlin suddenly collapsed on the field. What followed was a terrifying stretch of nearly ten minutes, where the game faded into the background, and everything stopped. Trainers fought to restore his pulse while teammates, staff, and fans looked on in stunned silence.

He was eventually brought back to life as thousands looked on. At 24, the talented safety had suffered a cardiac arrest, sparking more conversation for prompt emergency services. Now healthy, Hamlin is trying to raise awareness around this cause with a special gesture.

“Pittsburgh please come out & support me like you always do!” he wrote on X. “Next week during @NFL draft I will be attempting to break the @GWR for most people CPR trained in 1 hour. Starting Friday April 24th at noon! Alongside @American_Heart & @NFL.

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The American Heart Association and the NFL are teaming up with Chasing M’s Foundation, founded by Damar Hamlin, and social media’s most-followed physician, Doctor Mike, to take on a Guinness World Records challenge. Their goal: train 4,000 people in Hands-Only CPR within a single hour, aiming to set the mark for the most participants completing CPR training in that time frame.

Hamlin has turned his experience into a platform for impact, emphasizing just how critical bystander CPR can be by working with the American Heart Association to host training sessions nationwide. He also serves as the National Ambassador for the Nation of Lifesavers, where he leads an annual group of NFL player ambassadors in promoting the cause.

The player had suffered a condition known as commotio cordis, where the heart goes into arrest if a blow of more than 40 miles per hour lands on the chest. Had it not been for the quick actions of assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington and others, the safety might not have been here. Since then, he has been a dedicated advocate for spreading CPR training and the use of automated external defibrillators AEDs. That is the drive behind this Guinness World Record-breaking attempt at the NFL draft next week.

“Our world record attempt during the NFL Draft Experience in my hometown of Pittsburgh is a full-circle moment for me, and I’m proud to see the NFL, the American Heart Association, and our community come together to build a life-saving legacy,” Hamlin said in a statement earlier this month “It’s about bringing people together around a powerful message: be ready, because you never know when it could be your time to save a life.”

Hamlin has since been healthy and even returned to play four months after the incident; all because he received the immediate care that takes very little training, but proves to be the reason why someone’s heart is still beating today.

How Damar Hamlin’s case has helped cardiac arrest response measures in football

The football community has taken a major stance on CPR training ever since Damar Hamlin collapsed that night. For the Buffalo Bills, it was a little more personal, as team co-owner Kim Pegula also suffered a cardiac arrest six months before Hamlin. The team has been in a five-year collaboration with the AHA since then. And all members of the team and staff have received CPR training. The team has also committed $1 million to the association.

At the college level, the Pittsburgh Panthers took a similar initiative. Head coach Pat Narduzzi said that the Damar Hamlin incident had pushed the program to impart CPR training to players. He told ESPN in 2023 that his survival that night became an example for many, “helping people save lives.”

Damar Hamlin’s collapse also led lawmakers to draft the Access to AEDs Act, which was tabled in his presence, which would extend CPR training and AED access to public schools. Through his own foundation, Hamlin has donated more than 50 AEDs in every city he has toured to raise awareness. This sure is a brilliant way to bounce back from an experience as scary as facing death, before one has even hit their prime.