John Bush Jr. grew up participating in a variety of sports, including boxing, basketball, and football. However, on January 2nd, he found himself in a different kind of relay team, where the baton was the life of Damar Hamlin.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Bush has been a respiratory therapist on the Paycor Stadium emergency action team since its establishment in 2018. This team is a result of the emergency action plan (EAP) that every NFL stadium must have in case of severe trauma. Despite being present on the sidelines for every game since the NFL partnered with the Level 1 trauma center at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Bush had never stepped onto the playing field during a game.
That all changed when Hamlin, a second-year safety for the Bills, suffered cardiac arrest during a “Monday Night Football” match against the Bengals. In front of millions of viewers at home and over 65,000 silent fans in the stands, Bush and the UC team sprang into action.
“At that moment, the crowd didn’t matter. It was just me, God, and that kid,” Bush recalled almost a year later. “I looked at him as if he were my own child. He’s only 24 years old. I have a 22-year-old daughter and a 29-year-old son. My sole objective was to bring him back home to his mom.”
However, before Bush could pursue his goal, he had a more immediate task at hand. Upon reaching Hamlin lying on the field, Bush grabbed the blue Ambu bag, a self-inflating resuscitator, and repeatedly squeezed it to provide manual respiration for Hamlin.
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The Bills’ athletic trainers initiated the life-saving relay, with assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington performing CPR first. Following Kellington, the UC team, including Bush and Dr. B. Woods Curry, the designated co-lead for the stadium that night, joined in. Curry has been a part of the team since 2018, just like Bush.
Curry, an emergency medicine physician at UC Medical Center, acts as a consultant for the Bengal’s EAP. Both the Bengals and the EAP team practice during the preseason and regular season to prepare for any potential emergencies on the field. This team consists of at least seven physicians, respiratory technicians like Bush, paramedics, and two ambulance crews. They always remain ready for any situation.
“The specific circumstances of this case were different compared to any case we had practiced before,” Curry explained.
It took nearly thirty minutes from the moment Hamlin collapsed until he was finally loaded into the ambulance. During this time, Kellington performed CPR, Bush utilized the Ambu bag, and Curry intubated Hamlin. As the ambulance drove away, Curry stayed behind in case the game resumed, while Bush accompanied Hamlin to the hospital.
Meanwhile, during that crucial half-hour on the field with Hamlin, the trauma team at UC Medical Center prepared to receive him. This was the final leg of the life-saving relay.
Dawn Schultz, an emergency room nurse on duty, received a text message from her husband: “You’re about to get busy.”
Schultz’s husband watched the incident on television, as did Dr. Valerie Sams’ husband. Sams, an emergency medicine physician and trauma injury specialist, also received a similar message from her husband. However, Sams’ husband was dismayed to learn that he was the third person to send her such a text. Several of their colleagues present at the game also sent messages notifying them when the ambulance left the stadium for the five-mile journey to the hospital.
Under normal circumstances, the drive up I-71 takes as little as eight minutes without traffic. But that night, how long did it feel?
“It felt like an eternity,” Sams answered.
“Indeed,” Schultz agreed. “It felt like forever.”
However, it was during this time that Sams, Schultz, and the rest of their team prepared to take over. The usual personnel consists of an attending physician, three residents, nurses, respiratory therapists, and medics. Ventilators, monitors, and IVs were made ready, and the X-ray department was alerted about the imminent arrival of a patient. This is standard operating procedure, whether the patient is an NFL player or a victim of a car accident. It’s what happens in an emergency room every night.
“When the doors opened, and I saw a team of physicians, I felt a sense of relief and satisfaction. We had gotten him where he needed to be,” Bush said.
If Bush experienced relief in that moment, he was one of the few people who did. The rest of the world was filled with concern and prayed for Hamlin’s well-being. Outside the hospital, as rain began to fall, a crowd of well-wishers gathered. Some lit candles while others held prayer sessions, all hoping that Hamlin would defy the odds. However, few expected him to return to Cincinnati as an active NFL player just a few days later.
In the months following the incident, Bush’s friends gained a better understanding of his profession, as did the rest of the world.
Within a week of Hamlin’s injury, manufacturers of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) sold out of their stock in the United States. According to Curry, there is still a backlog of orders for these machines.
“At every field in the United States, there should be an AEP and someone trained in bystander CPR, ready to use an AED immediately,” Curry emphasized. “The National Football League has an incredible system. These fields are the safest places to play this sport in the world. However, if we can make high school football fields safer as a result of this incident, that would be an extraordinary outcome, alongside the amazing outcome Damar has achieved.”
Hamlin’s Chasing Ms Foundation organized a CPR Tour, providing thousands of CPR training sessions and donating AEDs for youth sports. Hamlin also played a role in introducing the Access to AEDs Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.
UC Medical Center expanded its CPR education program as well, reaching out to the community to teach people both hands-only CPR and the proper use of AEDs.
Approximately 16 hours after his collapse, Hamlin woke up. Although still intubated, he was able to respond to simple commands, such as wiggling his right toes and raising his left thumb. At that moment, the entire team felt a sense of relief.
Curry admitted that he couldn’t sleep until he received that call. Bush had slept the night before, but he woke up in tears because of the heavy burden on his heart.
It wasn’t until the following Friday night, four days after Hamlin collapsed on the field, that Bush finally saw him again in person. By then, Hamlin had been taken off the ventilator, and his family had joined him in the room. Upon sharing how he performed Hamlin’s breathing, Bush described how Hamlin smiled “from ear to ear.” The two proceeded to pound their chests, symbolizing their mutual respect and newfound bond.
“That moment brought a sense of relief,” Bush expressed. “And I got to hug his mom.”
The Bills and Hamlin will return to Paycor Stadium on Sunday night. On Saturday, Bush will join Hamlin, his family, and many others at a steakhouse in downtown Cincinnati to celebrate Hamlin’s remarkable recovery.
(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
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