Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin gets heart tattoo after cardiac arrest
Damar Hamlin commemorated the one-year anniversary of his mid-game cardiac arrest with a meaningful tattoo.
The Buffalo Bills player, 25, debuts his new ink via tattoo artist Alexander Brenes‘Instagram page on Tuesday, January 2. The design is a hand-held heart with an electrocardiogram – or heartbeat line – in the center.
“Still locked up one year later 🫶🏽,” Brenes captioned a series of photos with Hamlin, revealing that the new tattoo is on the NFL player’s neck. Hamlin responded to the post with three emojis, “🫶🏾🥉🪽,” representing the hand heart, his jersey number and an angel wing.
Two days earlier, Hamlin reflected on his own journey over the past year after suffering cardiac arrest while playing football on January 2, 2023.
“It took me all of 2023 to find myself again,” he revealed via Instagram on Sunday, December 31. “It’s a hard year to explain man…you just had to be there!”
Hamlin made headlines in January 2023 after collapsing during the first quarter of the Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Ohio. The Bills later reported that Hamlin’s “heart rate was restored on the field” after nearly 10 minutes of CPR.
The game was postponed due to Hamlin’s traumatic injury that rocked athletes and fans across the NFL. “Please pray for our brother,” Bill’s quarterback Josh Allen wrote via X after leaving the field with his teammates. Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields wrote: “Prayers up…🙏”
Hamlin was released from the hospital in Ohio a week later and transported to a facility in Buffalo, New York, to continue his recovery.
“When you put real love out into the world, it comes back to you three times as much.. 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾,” Hamlin wrote via Instagram in early January 2023, when the hand heart symbol became synonymous with his health journey. “The love has been overwhelming, but I am grateful for everyone who prayed for me and reached out. We brought [sic] the world behind this together. If you know me, you know that this only makes me stronger. Keep praying for me on a long road! 🫶🏾❤️3️⃣ #3strong.”
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It was a long road, but Hamlin completed his first workout with the Bills in June 2023. Four months later, he played his first regular season game and couldn’t contain his excitement about returning to the field.
“That moment was everything for me,” the safety told reporters of his run through the tunnel with his teammates in October 2023. “I think it was more about promising myself than anything – showing myself that I have the courage, I got the strength, the pride, everything… in me to be able to go through something so traumatic and come back from it. It’s great to still be able to do what I love at the highest level in the world.”