How horrible to see Damar Hamlin go down like that. Any cardiologists here? Do you think it was commotio cordis? A friend lost her son to this rare hit to the chest that causes a cardiac event about 2O years ago. Thank heavens now for AEDs! Hope he survives.
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Not an MD but I watched it on You Tube and it was a “nothing” hit. He stood up, stepped back while reaching for his faceguard/helmet and then fell straight backward. So, yeah, I think and undiagnosed heart problem, or an MI or an aneurysm. Poor guy. Poor everyone. They were so shook up.
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24 years old. 
From watching the video, it does seem that a sudden arrhythmia could have caused that. A sudden hit to the chest can do it, but it’s extremely rare, and usually something like being hit in the chest with a speeding baseball - extremely concentrated force.
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An update from his agent:
" His vitals are back to normal and they have put him to sleep to put a breathing tube down his throat. They are currently running tests. "
No doctor here, but I think that means his heart is back in rhythm, and he’ll be kept under while they try and figure the rest out. Praying for this kid…and his poor Mom who was there. Just can’t imagine…
On another note, his GoFundMe for his toy drive for kids for Xmas has soared tonight…it was at $300K+ when I first looked…and my last look had it over $2million…
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My friend’s son was hit with a softball, but these were young kids throwing. Unlikely it would have been defined as a “speeding” ball. Burn if a hit to the chest is hard and happens at just the right (wrong) time of a heartbeat, commotio cordis can occur.
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It may be CPVT, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.
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Praying he is ok and pulls through. So sad.
I commend the coaches for disregarding the “give the players 5 minutes to regroup, then resume play” directive. No way they could have played with any focus after what they witnessed.
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This was so tragic and heartbreaking to watch. I am so happy that the game was stopped. By the coaches because I thought at the time, how could you play after watching this?
TBH I find it very uncomfortable personally to speculate what happened.
I won’t be visiting this thread again. It’s too much for me.
He’s exactly two weeks older than my youngest child. Ugh. So tough.
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I happen to be going for a Cardiac scan today and a CT Calcium scoring tomorrow due to some reportedly minor t wave inversions my PCP noted on my recent physical. Understanding how our hearts work seems helpful. Understand that some are uncomfortable with medical issues/conversations, but being in healthcare I find it intriguing and important.
I have no desire to play armchair expert but send many prayers to him and his family and his team who are no doubt only concerned for his life. 
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For those interested, this is an excellent, easy to understand explanation of what may have happened to Damar Hamlin Damar Hamlin Collapses and Suffers Cardiac Arrest After a Hard Hit - YouTube
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My husband had (survived) sudden cardiac arrest 4 years ago. We have learned a lot about it since. So that was my first thought. Watching a loved one have CPR is very traumatic.
That’s what the sports doc on YouTube says it likely was. (commotio cordis)
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Hopefully his fitness will help him withstand this.
So hard to watch something like this happen.
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It really wasn’t a nothing hit. He tackled a player who was running at full speed. The other player lowered his shoulder and hit him hard in the chest with it.
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The thing is it wasn’t an atypical football hit—that type of hit happens many times in every game. It wasn’t a cheap shot, dirty play, etc–just a usual brutal football play.
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For those interested in some medical thoughts (others might want to skip this post), a friend’s daughter in law, who is a trauma doc, commented on her Facebook page that their ability to get a heart rhythm back when on the field was a good sign, but that it looked like he did not resume spontaneous respirations (he was intubated) which was concerning to her.
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A local kid was saved here years ago after being hit in the chest with a baseball. He was fortunate that two parents who were doctors were in the stands, had spotted the AED and sprung immediately into action. The kid was home and fine in a few days. His parents say they’ve still “barely gotten over the trauma” and the kid is now a 30 year old father himself ( his mom joked at the wedding it took him 48 hrs to recover and she won’t recover for at least 48 years). One of the dads commented on this incident worried that they didn’t use the AED soon enough if the problem stemmed from a hit that disrupted normal heart rhythm (which is more of a freak thing).