TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — From 1983 to 1992, Randy Grimes could be found on the football field playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I played back in an era where the coaches mentality back then was if you don't practice hard, you're not gonna play hard, you know. So you know, a lot of the injuries that we sustained back in the eighties and early nineties because of that mentality were at practice; not during game time," he said.
Grimes said in his decade-long career, he suffered injuries to his knees, ankles, elbows, and of course, concussions.
"They were just pretty much anything you could think of because it's a very violent game, and you cannot control those collisions that happen out there. That's something we sign up for," he explained. "We go into it, knowing that there's going to be injuries, and that it is a violent game, and that we don't have control over it. But it's a game that we love so much."
While watching Monday night's match-up between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Grimes immediately knew just how serious Damar Hamlin's injury was.
"I've been involved in a lot of injuries on the field, both to other players and to myself. But the fear that I saw in those players' eyes, the anxiety and the helplessness, that was something I had never seen before," he said.
Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin, 24, suffered cardiac arrest mid-game Monday night. Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops abruptly with little or no warning.
Hamlin had just tackled a player. He stood up briefly, then collapsed to the ground. Within moments, CPR and AED were administered.
Dr. Jason Wilson, Division Chief, Emergency Medicine USF, Tampa General Hospital, said that quick action is always important in cases like Hamlin's.
"What we know is anytime the heart stops, we only have a very short amount of time to get the heart to restart before the brain loses oxygen. If the brain loses oxygen and loses oxygen for a little bit of time, that can be detrimental to brain function and brain activity," said Dr. Wilson.
Dr. Wilson said luckily, professional sports, including the NFL, have enacted life-saving changes.
"If you look at it, NFL or any pro athletic field, there's going to be a number of medical staff available and there who are trained to respond to situations like this from the athletic trainers to the physicians on the field, to even the equipment," he explained. "These are all very strategically worked out things that are drilled and planned and known about and put into an emergency operation plan before a season even starts."
Grimes said he's noticed those changes as well.
"They have longer careers as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement. Guys are lasting longer. Look at Brady. Look at a lot of these guys that are having 10, 15, 20-year careers in some cases," said Grimes.
Hamlin is currently in the ICU at a Cincinnati hospital. According to the Buffalo Bills, Hamlin is sedated and using a breathing tube. Dr. Wilson explains that's not an uncommon next step.
"It's likely we'll see this patient sedated for about 48 hours before any decisions are made about prognosis or how the patient is doing, just because it takes some time to sort of see what things look like after the event occurs," he said.
He believes there are two likely causes of Hamlin's cardiac arrest.
Hamlin had just tackled another player moments before he collapsed. That could point to commotio cordis. The American Heart Association describes it as "a rare phenomenon from a sudden blunt impact to the chest causing. The blow to the chest at precisely the wrong time in the cardiac cycle causes an electrical abnormality in the heart resulting in an irregular heart rhythm that cannot pump blood to the body."
However, additional testing could point to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. That is a thickened heart muscle. AHA said it's common in young people and athletes. Dr. Wilson describes the next couple of days as a period of monitoring.
"After the body has gone through that much physiological shock and that much stress, it's common to put a tube in the mouth to help the patient breathe because the work the organs is doing a lot to keep the heart pumping and the blood flowing. So actually, some help around breathing is needed during that period of time," he said.
It's all information that brought back scary memories for Grimes.
"I know that in college, I was right next to an individual who, during a practice play, broke his neck. His name was Kyle Woods. That happened right next to me, and I'll never forget the sound of that. It sounded like a shotgun going off, and I'll never forget how still he laid, you know, on that hot astroturf in Waco, Texas," he recalled.
Grimes, who now specializes in helping athletes in recovery, said support from teammates, coaches, and fans will help everyone.
"I think it's important that you talk it out. Obviously, they did the right thing last night, canceling the game. I'm sure that there were people available for players to talk to after witnessing such a traumatic event. I'm sure they talked it out as a team, you know, just as peers to each other and to the coaches."
The NFL said the game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals will not resume this week and that no decision has been made about playing it at a later date.
