Yankees begin HOPE Week with CPR training alongside Bills' Damar Hamlin

Since 2009, the Yankees have put together a week when players and members of the organization give back to the local community. It’s called HOPE Week. And not too many people in the sports world have provided more hope to others than Damar Hamlin.

Sports fans and non-sports fans alike have connected with Hamlin’s story, which began Jan. 2 as a horror on national television.

During Week 17 of the NFL season — in the final Monday Night Football game of the regular season — Hamlin, a safety for the Bills, tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. It was the same sort of play the 25-year-old had made 93 other times on a professional field and countless times in the course of his life, but this one nearly turned deadly.

Hamlin rose and collapsed nearly immediately. He went into cardiac arrest and was saved by CPR and a defibrillator.

Hamlin spent nine days in a hospital with doubts about whether he’d survive, but less than five months later, he was cleared for football activities. He participated in offseason workouts with the Bills before official team training camp begins July 26.

In the meantime, Hamlin has been focused on giving back and raising awareness of the importance of learning CPR and other life-saving procedures.

On Monday morning, Hamlin and Fordham softball pitcher Sarah Taffet, who went into cardiac arrest on the field in a game in October 2021, were on hand at Yankee Stadium for CPR training led by the American Heart Association.

“Even before any of you even knew me, I had my eyes set on making an impact in the world someway, somehow,” Hamlin said. “I didn’t know how it would be, but I’m fine with this platform and I’m fine with this story as well. So I’m going to continue to do my part and make an impact on the world and changing things.”

Hamlin didn’t take questions but spoke for 90 seconds. He thanked the Yankees and some players — including Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rizzo, Anthony Volpe and Luis Severino — who participated in the training.

“I think everyone around the country and all parts of the world saw what happened to Damar that [Monday] night. He was an inspiration for everyone,” Rizzo said. “Everyone was pulling for him, and for him to come out on the other side raised a lot of awareness.”

Volpe remembers watching that game with his family and discussing what happened with family and friends.

“We were all pretty shaken up about it,” he said. “I think in a way it got everyone kind of wanting [to learn CPR]. Once you realized it was CPR that saved him, I know people were pretty open to learning.”

Hamlin hopes opportunities like working with the Yankees will raise additional awareness.

“People seeing figures like them in the community that everyone looks up to [is important],” Hamlin said. “The Yankees are such a staple in history — let alone in New York, just worldwide history — so for people to come out here and see them learn CPR, it will have a big trickle effect on the rest of the world wanting to be trained.”