
An NFL safety whose on-field cardiac arrest triggered a global conversation about athlete safety and rallied a nation.
Damar Hamlin made a routine tackle on January 2, 2023, then suffered cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati. The Buffalo Bills safety, a sixth-round draft pick from the University of Pittsburgh, had worked his way into a starting role through preparation and grit. Trainers and doctors saved his life with swift medical intervention. His recovery became a national story of perseverance. Hamlin returned to the NFL the following season. He used the attention to champion CPR awareness through his Chasing M's Foundation, fundraising for toys and community support. His football story runs alongside that effort.
1997–2012
Born into smartphones, social media, and school shootings. The most diverse generation in history. Pragmatic about money, fluid about identity, anxious about the climate. They do not remember a world before the internet.
Damar was born in 1998, placing them squarely in the Generation Z. The events that shaped this generation — social media, climate anxiety, and a pandemic — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
The biggest hits of 1998
#1 Movie
Saving Private Ryan
Best Picture
Shakespeare in Love
#1 TV Show
Seinfeld
The world at every milestone
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
US invades Iraq; Human Genome Project completed
Osama bin Laden killed; Arab Spring sweeps the Middle East
Russia annexes Crimea; Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
He launched his Chasing M's Foundation as a college student with a modest $2,500 toy drive goal.
He was awarded the NFLPA's Alan Page Community Award for his advocacy work after his recovery.
He earned his degree in communications from the University of Pittsburgh.
“I died on national TV in front of the whole world. I lost a lot of people in my life, and I know a lot of people lost people in their lives. And I just want them to know that you can bounce back.”