Not every person who died in 2020 died of COVID. That was ridiculous, and the claims of COVID deaths made those claiming them look stupid. Similarly, not every sudden death happening now is because of the COVID vax.

Yet I have seen many on the right this morning claiming that the collapse of Damar Hamlin was due to the jab. No, it likely wasn’t. For those who aren’t aware, an NFL football player took a hit to the chest in a game last night before collapsing in cardiac arrest.

What likely happened was a phenomenon called commotio cordis. This condition is caused by an athlete taking a blow to the chest while the heart is in its relative refractory period. The heart enters an arrythmia called “ventricular fibrillation” and the person has no pulse. The condition is usually fatal without immediate CPR, followed by immediate access to defibrillation and Advanced Cardiac Life Support. (ACLS)

A similar thing happened in the NHL to Chris Pronger, who collapsed during a 1998 hockey game after taking a blow to the chest from a hockey puck. He went into cardiac arrest. You can see a video of it here (I would embed it, but YouTube doesn’t allow this video to be embedded). Events like this are more common than you would think.

I have been watching tons of conservatives on social media being just as dogmatic as the left was about COVID on this topic. Don’t make yourself look stupid by trying to pontificate on things that you have no knowledge of, simply so you can make a political point. It weakens your argument and makes you look like a tool.

So many people are trying to use this event to springboard their agendas. I saw an NFL player on TV saying that this is why they make millions, because they are putting their lives on the line to play football and this is why the salary cap for the NFL should be raised. He is saying that most players don’t get many years to play, and the risk is high. Keep in mind that the league minimum salary is $705,000 a year, the average player salary is $2.7 million a year, and the highest paid player makes $31 million a year. When you say things like that, you make yourself look stupid.

Categories: Medical News

27 Comments

Grumpy · January 3, 2023 at 9:09 am

I’ve worked a teenager who was struck in the chest by a hit baseball (he was a pitcher)that was brought in (I was working ED at the time)……90s….. can’t remember if he survived or not

Elrod · January 3, 2023 at 9:39 am

Much more infrequent than lighntning strikes, but it makes me wonder if some changes to protective gear might be in order. Given existing football padding might adding something like the soft armor “chicken plate” be beneficial? There’s plenty of room for padding in hockey,, as for baseball maybe something like the lightweight energy absorbing-and-distributing recoil pads shotgun shooters use placed over the sternum might work.

Or, is the problem related more to localized inertial causes than a direct impact?

Jeff Grey · January 3, 2023 at 10:32 am

Or it might truly be from the vax- we’ll honestly never know.

Max · January 3, 2023 at 11:07 am

Right. How many players have you seen this happen to before? One? Back in 1998? And it was a hockey player getting hit by a puck. You’re right that we don’t know for sure, but you’re speculating just as much as anyone else, who says it was the jab that caused it.

    Divemedic · January 3, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    Actually, it happens fairly often. It just doesn’t seem to happen very often in front of a TV camera.
    Here is a 13 year old pitcher in 2010
    https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/commotio-cordis-tragedy-diamond

    Another 13 year old pitcher in 2015
    https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2018-06-07/commotio-cordis-a-rare-deadly-heart-event

    Look for horses when you hear hoofbeats, not zebras.

      Brutus · January 3, 2023 at 1:25 pm

      I read a few review papers on this. They all emphasize how rare commotio cordis is and how it mostly occurs in young teenagers. I don’t doubt that the impulse triggered Hamlin’s collapse, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a recent booster biased the odds against him.

      Max · January 3, 2023 at 2:38 pm

      Those are both examples from different sports. Is it possible that the impact from a baseball or a hockey puck has a greater chance to cause the cardiac arrest due to the smaller area of impact, as compared to a pro football player’s shoulder?

Matthew · January 3, 2023 at 11:47 am

So, just devil’s advocate here for a second.

In all the games, over all the seasons, times the number of players over the entire history of the NFL how many blows to the chest do you suppose happened?

Just last season, 32 teams, 17 games, about 65 plays per game, 22 players on the field that’s over 3/4 million player involved plays in the games alone. Then add practice plays.

That’s a big number.

The game has been around for over 100 years.

Plus college ball, high school, Canadian League, Arena League…

Quite the “phenomenon”.

Toastrider · January 3, 2023 at 12:11 pm

One of the hardest things you’ll ever do is look at something you want to be true and say, ‘OK, this looks legit but it needs analysis to make sure it’s real.’ And then have the courage to say, ‘This turned out to not be what I thought it was’ if that’s how the cards fall.

chiefjaybob · January 3, 2023 at 1:15 pm

You guys who doubt this is commodio cordis, saying, “How many times have you seen this happen?” must understand that the timeframe for the hard hit to disrupt the cardiac rhythm is something like .02 of a second. The hit must occur at this tiny window of time. And be of sufficient energy to disrupt the normal rhythm. It is literally a million to one shot (maybe 10 million to one). If you watch the video, it’s pretty clear: helmet or shoulder to the chest, an instant to stand up, then, boom, on the ground. I hate the clot shot, I don’t doubt there are athletes dropping from it, but I don’t believe this is a case.

tetonman · January 3, 2023 at 1:17 pm

A friend of mine died exactly the same way. While playing lacrosse, he was hit in the chest with the ball. Died on the spot.

Mike_C · January 3, 2023 at 1:27 pm

To those wondering about the relative paucity of commotio cordis (CC) deaths vs the number of chest hits, this is addressed in the Discussion section of the last link DM provided. Namely the “Events like this are more common than you would think” part. The original research by Link (the guy’s name) et al found that CC happens only during a very brief portion of the cardiac cycle. It seems that the heart is vulnerable to CC only during ventricular repolarization (essentially “recharging” electrically for the next beat). Since the odds of hitting the anterior chest over the heart (“precordium”) exactly during the vulnerable period are not all that high, this is why you don’t have people dropping like flies from CC. Chest hits are common. A hit to the precordium during the 15 to 30 ms “danger window” is considerably less common.

I haven’t followed the Damar Hamlin case at all, but FWIW DM’s analysis makes sense.

Aesop · January 3, 2023 at 2:17 pm

The even-handedness is a worthy effort.
But yeah, no.

The pool of televised pro football games is fairly large. Hundreds of games, tens of thousands of tackles.
And yet, here’s the umpteenth incident of Suddenly™, right in the faces of millions of people.

Rolling the dice, this one incident could have been anything. Including cardiac arrest from a hit.

If it weren’t for the hundreds – HUNDREDS – of similar incidents of athletes in stellar condition dropping like flies in a cloud of insecticide in the last year or two.

And frankly, that was a pretty glancing and non-substantive hit. I was expecting to see some bull of a running back drilling a helmet into his chest. That was just an ordinary tackle, like any of 10,000 others any season. Like any of hundreds of tackles he himself made to get to where he is in the NFL now.

So I doubt it was from the hit. But I know to a metaphysical certainty that it won’t be the only one.

And as they continue to pile up, in practice, and in games, and we see the next one, and the next one, ordinary people are going to eventually get to the point where they’re going to toss the narrative, and believe their lying eyes.

Right now, they’re still hoping to believe anything, rather than confront what TPTB did to them. And what they’ve done to themselves. And their kids.

I can’t even talk to jabbed co-workers, even though they’ve been sick five times after 3-4 COVID shots. When I start losing way-too-young co-workers to Suddenly™ on the job, maybe they’ll change their tune. But I doubt it, even then.

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.

Alo89 · January 3, 2023 at 2:53 pm

I understand the hockey puck thing but last night the impact from the helmet did not seem that sharp. The puck has a smaller area of impact and a higher velocity transmitting more force to the player’s chest. A big round helmet striking the front of the shoulder pads would transmit a lot less force. As you can see from the video, the helmet bounced somewhat. The chest, protected by the shoulder pads, could not have absorbed much force. IMHO.

Angus McThag · January 3, 2023 at 3:29 pm

I’ve read in several places that the NFL pads allow much stronger impacts now than they used and while it protects from the initial impact and the pain from it, they don’t protect the second impact the organs make against the insides.

Car manufacturers discovered this second impact while trying to make cars safer.

It was interesting reading about the solutions to the problem in cars.

Perhaps they should down-armor a bit to make the hits hurt when they get dangerous.

I’ve noticed that hockey pads aren’t near as extensive and there’s a lot of body-checking with fewer injuries than football.

joe · January 3, 2023 at 5:06 pm

jab or not, he’s a human and he has a family…that’s how i look at it…shit happens…and all you can do is hope and if praying is your thing, pray…

Charles · January 3, 2023 at 5:22 pm

Right. This incident may not be related to the vax. But there have been hundreds of athletes dropping on the field, at all levels, all over the world this past year. European soccer has had a rash of incidents, at least 1,000. This pattern is very unusual.

We haven’t had many pro athletes in the States drop, not yet. That suggests that perhaps they may not have received the same shots as everybody else. Major politicians, other significant people, may have for the most part taken saline, or something other than the generally administered clot shot.

I just saw an academic analysis – linked at today’s Coffee & Covid or Anonymous Conservative, I think – that suggests a vaccine injury rate of 1 in 1,000. Contrasted against their quickly waning efficacy, again contrasted against the relatively low virulence of even the most virulent strains of COVID, that means that the shots are already significantly more dangerous than even the original most virulent strain of COVID.

I personally know two people who became very ill immediately after vaccination. One with myocarditis that put him in the hospital for over a month, almost killing him; the other was hospitalized with both internal bleeding and clotting the week after she was vaccinated, and now has been diagnosed with both ALS and leukemia.

This may be coincidental. But I strongly doubt it is. Neither of these two cases have been officially recognized as vaccine injuries. I suspect that the vaccine injury rate is significantly highr than 1 in 1,000. I’d bet it’s currently closer to something like 1 in 400, and that as time goes on that number will continue to grow.

If that’s so, the people responsible for this atrocity will hang. The whole nasty cabal of demoniacs responsible for this travesty are going down, hard. If what I suspect is true is true, it’s only a matter of time until the Lion of Judah has his inevitable way with the children of the Lie.

FJB · January 3, 2023 at 7:10 pm

It doesn’t matter what the cause was for one specific person. The fact is that many people seem to be suffering SADS and there is no credible explanation as to why.
Some hard fact finding needs to be done to confirm the cause or causes of these sudden deaths. Absent facts, one may theory or opinion, but cannot call it fact.
The one lie will be remembered long after all the truths are forgotten.
Stay safe and prepare accordingly.

Steve S6 · January 3, 2023 at 8:48 pm

The most balanced and educational take on it from Dr. Malone (MD).

Bottom line:
“So frankly, there is a very good chance that we will never know if he had a pre-existing condition, including a vaccine injury. That whatever his doctors conclude, we will all be playing “back-seat quarterback.”

https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/cardiac-arrest-in-athletes?sd=pf

Henry · January 3, 2023 at 10:06 pm

DM – my retired RN [w/ACLS] wife (Florida Hospital Altamonte ICU/CCU) thought as you did that arrhythmia was the most likely result of the impact.

Joe Metropony Simenakowski · January 3, 2023 at 10:48 pm

I do hope and pray that the young man makes a full recovery with no lasting ill effects, and that if he hasn’t already done so that he gets right with the Lord.
It could have been worse, at least he wasn’t punched in the chest by a beautiful blond like Bill was….

Emperor Commudus · January 4, 2023 at 12:23 am

Commotio cardis is a construct of the white male patriarchy.

Francis W. Porretto · January 4, 2023 at 6:10 am

Bravo, Divemedic, for maintaining your objectivity. There’s altogether too much propagandization and counter-propagandization going on today.

    Divemedic · January 4, 2023 at 4:29 pm

    Thanks. I am trying.
    It’s almost like 30 years of education and experience are outweighed by a Google search and wishful forecasting.

      Aesop · January 6, 2023 at 9:06 pm

      Hi there. I’m the Internet. Allow me to commend to you the fine work of Drs. Dunning and Kruger.

      The correct answer in this case isn’t “It wasn’t the vaxx.” The correct answer also isn’t “It had to be the vaxx.” The correct answer in this case is “We’ll never know what caused it, but anything pointing remotely towards the vaxx in any way, shape, or form will be ruthlessly suppressed.”

        Divemedic · January 6, 2023 at 10:42 pm

        Truth. Look, I’m willing to consider new evidence. I just don’t think it’s proper to jump to conclusions without it.
        Right now, the evidence that is there points away from SCD, heart disease, and infection. CC is the most likely remaining explanation.

          Aesop · January 7, 2023 at 7:03 am

          Agreed. “The evidence that is there” being the key phrase there. TPTB already have both thumbs on that scale from the get-go, in 108% of all cases.
          My bias, in 2023, is that henceforth, death-by-jab is the default correct likeliest answer for any coronary event in what should be a young, fit, otherwise-healthy person (that would be anyone under 45 years and 300 pounds, who didn’t get a heart transplant as an infant), and Vaxx Death should therefore be required to be ruled affirmatively out, rather than be required to be ruled in.
          Tomayto, tomahto.

          But that would be in a sane world where intellectual honesty reigned.

          Instead, when C.C.-blamed deaths in sports skyrocket over this year and next, they’ll use that globull-warmist-style fake evidence to degrade contact sports until football, hockey, etc. turn into the Queer Eye for The Straight Guy version of powderpuff football at the Special Olympics, with foam helmets, and 50 yard penalties for contact.
          That’s the way the cultural sewer is flowing. On purpose.

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