Fans Donate MILLIONS to Buffalo Player's Charity After Monday Night Injury
It was a scene like nothing else we’d seen in the modern, televised game of football, and we hope to never, ever see again.
During Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin collapsed to the ground after what appeared to be a routine tackle, laying motionless as medical staff performed CPR and defibrillation for nearly 9 minutes before he was taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
As of this writing, some 20 hours later, Hamlin remains sedated and in critical condition, with his breathing being handled by machine.
The game was suspended indefinitely, with the NFL so far only stating that it would not be played this week – a first for the league.
Fans of the Bills, and of football in general, were soon made aware of a charity that Hamlin had begun fundraising for that would provide toys to children in need. At kickoff on Monday, the foundation had raised nearly $3,000.
Now, less than a day after Hamlin’s injury, they’ve raised over $4 million.
Hamlin’s most recent Instagram post celebrated his third annual toy drive through his foundation, Chasing M’s.
Advertisement - story continues belowThe Pittsburgh native and former Pitt standout started the foundation soon after the 2020 college football season ended and immediately launched its first toy drive, creating a GoFundMe page for donations. That page remains active, and donations poured in Monday after Hamlin’s collapse.
The money came quick.
As of 1 a.m. ET Tuesday, the page had raised more than $2.4 million and counting from over 96,000 individual donations. By 12:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, over $4 million had been raised from more than 150,000 donations. The exact figure of money raised before Monday was unknown but believed to be in the low thousands of dollars.
And, in a heartwarming display of sportsmanship, the donations appeared to be coming from fans across the league.
“Broncos Nation is praying for you, Damar,” one read.
Advertisement - story continues below“Prayers coming in from Packers Nation,” said another.
“Bengals fan pulling for the Bills and their families tonight,” read a third.
Hamlin remains in critical condition as of this writing.
