Damar Hamlin's collapse brings back scary memories for former Texas high school football standout
Matt Nader's mind started to race when he watched Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin go into cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati during Monday night's NFL game.
The images he saw terrified him. The TV replay showed Hamlin collapse after making a tackle. Hamlin, 24, went into cardiac arrest and was administered CPR on the field during the TV timeout, and when the broadcast resumed, players and coaches from both teams consoled each other, Hamlin's teammates knelt in prayer at midfield and an ambulance drove onto the field to transport him to a nearby hospital. The NFL eventually postponed the game before canceling it entirely on Thursday.
Nader had experienced his own personal nightmare in 2006. As a senior on the Westlake High School (Texas) football team, he was involved in a life-threatening episode that was eerily similar to the one that millions witnessed Monday night. On a hot and muggy night in College Station, a team of doctors and trainers gathered together and saved Nader's life after he went into cardiac arrest. Westlake coach Derek Long and A&M Consolidated coach Jim Slaughter agreed to stop the game.
On Tuesday, Nader reflected on the night that changed his life. The 6-foot-6, 305-pound offensive tackle sat on the metal bench after helping the Chaparrals score a touchdown after a grueling, 15-play drive on a stifling hot September night. Assistant coach Steve Ramsey, who's now Westlake's principal, draped a cold towel around Nader's neck.
"As soon as I felt that towel, there was an explosion in my chest," Nader said on Tuesday. "The last thing I remembered were the bleacher lights in front of me. I was sitting on a bench with no back to it. I remember losing muscle control and losing consciousness as I fell off the back of the bench. I hit the ground and everything started to fade to black."
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Fellow Westlake lineman Dusty Davidson, who was seated next to Nader, started to scream. He was yelling for team trainers and coaches to assist his stricken teammate.
"When all I could see were the whites of Matt's eyes, I knew something was very, very wrong," said Davidson, who has been Nader's best friend since seventh grade.
Head trainer Brad Hawkins responded first. He couldn't detect a pulse. Nader's parents, both doctors, rushed onto the field and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Nader's mother, Barbara Bergin, who recently retired as an orthopedic surgeon, said she and her husband, Paul Nader, had to remove their "parent caps" and get into "doctor mode." Their son's jersey was cut off and his shoulder pads removed.
Nader's heart had stopped when his parents started to give him CPR. People have "no idea what it's like to give mouth-to-mouth to your son," Bergin recalled this week.
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Dr. Paul Tucker, an Austin cardiologist and there that night because he's the father of former Westlake kicker Justin Tucker — who went on to star for the Texas Longhorns and now with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens — used an automated external defibrillator to shock Nader's heart back into rhythm. On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that an AED had been used on Hamlin.
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Nader was fortunate. He was responsive by the time he reached College Station Medical Center. Although he was disappointed to miss out on a college football career, he is happy with his new life.
Now 33, it's been 17 years since he nearly lost his life while playing the game he loves. A big-time recruit, he was committed to play football at Texas and dreamed about a career in the NFL. That all changed when he had a miniature AED implanted near his collarbone.
Earlier this week, Nader, Davidson and Long spoke about Monday's NFL game and how it brought back a flood of memories. From concussions to torn knees, injuries have always been a part of the game. But what happened to Hamlin — and Nader many years before — is something entirely different.
"When someone's heart stops, that transcends someone's ability to do what they're doing. Then you have to think about mortality," Nader said. "Physical injury is one thing and it's frightening. Mortality is a different story."
Long recalls that many of the Chaparrals were in tears when they gathered in the locker room following Nader's ordeal. The room was almost silent as players changed for the bus ride back to Austin.
"When it's a matter of life and death, it takes on a different dimension," Long said. "After Matt went down, it became obvious to me they were not in any condition to play a football game. At the time, they were just wondering if Matt was going to make it."
As for Nader, his brush with mortality steered his life into a different mission. As territory manager for Abbott's Cardiac and Rhythm Management in Central Texas, he sells pacemakers and implantable defibrillators to hospitals in the area. A UT graduate, he manages a team of local reps who assist physicians who implant them.
Nader is cautious when drawing comparisons to the Bills' Hamlin, who remains in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
"His stakes are a lot higher than mine," he said. "I was a high school player about to play college football. He's at the apex of his game in the NFL. His identity and his income are wrapped up in his ability to play football."