Damar Hamlin Gets a Heart Tattoo on 1-Year Anniversary of On-Field Cardiac Arrest

The Buffalo Bills safety commemorated his miraculous survival in a special way.

It's been one year since Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest mid-game, and the Buffalo Bills safety is commemorating his miraculous survival in a special way.

As fans know all too well by now, in the first quarter of the Bills' week 17 game on Jan. 2, 2023, in an AFC playoff match against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin tackled Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin immediately collapsed in the process of standing back up, prompting the Bills' assistant athletic trainer, Denny Kellington, to immediately begin performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, on Hamlin.

The 25-year-old athlete was taken off the field by ambulance and went to UC Medical Center after receiving CPR and automated external defibrillation (AED), where he remained in critical condition for an extended amount of time. Per Hamlin's uncle, Dorrian Glenn, the defensive back had to be resuscitated twice and was put on a ventilator to help with his breathing after sustaining damage to his lungs following the game tackle. It was later revealed that Hamlin went into cardiac arrest.

Four days after his cardiac arrest episode, Hamlin woke up and was able to communicate with family and teammates. One of the first questions Hamlin asked was if the Bills won the game.

On Tuesday, exactly one year later, the NFL player appeared on the Instagram page of celebrity tattoo artist Alexander Brenes. Hamlin and Brenes pose together in the first slide of a posted photo gallery, with the second slide featuring a black-and-white photo of the duo mid-session. The final image shows off Hamlin's new tattoo: two hands forming a heart around an electrocardiogram.

"1 year later still locked in," Brenes captioned the gallery.

The football player also reflected on his on-field health scare anniversary in a message on the GoFundMe created to benefit a toy drive sponsored by his Chasing M's Foundation.

"As a donor to my charity, I didn't want to let the New Year begin without reaching out personally to thank you. This past year has been an incredible journey for my family and I, and the growth of my charity -- through the generosity of people like you -- is a great blessing to me. In addition to returning to the NFL this fall, I've spent time creating the mission of my charity, which is focused on empowering youth and lifting up people who face adversity," his message reads.

Hamlin shared some of his foundation's additional charitable efforts from the past year, which included hosting community events and launching a scholarship program. "One of the things that has inspired me most is the real-life stories of people who were inspired to be CPR trained because of my experience, then turned around and saved the life of another this year," he adds.

Hamlin made his triumphant return to the gridiron in August 2023, seven months after going into cardiac arrest. The Buffalo Bills kicked off its preseason schedule against the visiting Indianapolis Colts, during which Hamlin made his first tackle in the first quarter. Then, midway through the first quarter, he made a critical tackle that forced the Colts to turn the ball over on downs.

In October, Hamlin took the field in a regular-season NFL game for the first time since the Jan. 2 incident. 

In the first in-depth interview since his NFL comeback, Hamlin told GQ Sports director Sam Schube that his return to the field is purely fueled by a desire to stay in the game for himself.

"I think even when I said I was coming back, I ain't know if I still wanted to do it," the athlete confessed, adding that he was constantly battling the fear that he could collapse again.

"One in a million seems a lot bigger when it actually happens to you. I think I'll probably have that with me forever, until I'm done playing," he added, sharing that he sees a team therapist and a personal trauma therapist to work his way through the challenges. "We all have negative feelings that come past. Just don't grab onto the negative ones."

He declared: "I ain't doing this s**t for nobody and I ain't finna start. This is all me within myself, me living my life for what I want to do. I know what I stand for, and I know what I preach. And I know the magnitude of what happened and how many people was affected. But, at the end of the day, this is the choice I made for myself. I ain't make this choice for nobody else. I understand what it means to the world, but this is a personal decision. I'm living my life."