{"id":5580,"date":"2023-02-03T10:22:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T15:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=5580"},"modified":"2023-02-03T10:22:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T15:22:45","slug":"prayers-answered-damar-hamlin-thanks-fans-god-for-support-after-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/02\/prayers-answered-damar-hamlin-thanks-fans-god-for-support-after-collapse.html","title":{"rendered":"Prayers Answered: Damar Hamlin Thanks Fans, God For Support After Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_5583\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5583\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5583\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2023\/02\/damar-hamlin-01_credit-d.ham3-instagram-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5583\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">@d.ham3 \/ Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Just a few weeks after he collapsed from cardiac arrest during the Buffalo Bills\u2019 Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Damar Hamlin made his <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundingintosports.com\/2023\/01\/damar-hamlin-thanks-god-friends-family-and-doctors-in-first-public-appearance-since-collapsing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">first public appearance<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0to his fans. After acknowledging that the experience had been \u201ca lot to process,\u201d he expressed his gratitude. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how appreciative I am for all the love, all the support,\u201d Hamlin said in a\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IziQ2N-rxLo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">video<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0released by the Bills. He also thanked the many people involved in saving his life. \u201cWhat happened to me on Monday Night Football, I feel, is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world. And now I\u2019m able to give kids and communities all across the world who need it most,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hamlin\u2019s collapse brought attention to his\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/mxksc-the-chasing-ms-foundation-community-toy-drive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0that he had started in 2020 for a toy drive for his charity, Chasing M\u2019s. At the time of his collapse, the drive had raised nearly $3000. At the time of this writing, the fund has raised over $9 million. Hamlin has made his charity an official 501(c)(3). \u201cAnd now I\u2019m able to give to kids and communities all across the world who need it the most. And that\u2019s always been my dream,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s always been what I stood for and what I will continue to stand for.\u201d Hamlin was released from the hospital on January 11th and did not give out any details about what caused his cardiac arrest or what his future with the team may look like. He stated, \u201cThis is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world. And with God\u2019s guidance, I will continue to do wonderful and great things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The incident has brought faith in public spaces, particularly in sports, to the forefront. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sports_Spectrum\/status\/1610397787169951747?s=20&amp;t=1znfouVuD8MORa5lI0zPeQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">openly prayed<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for Hamlin on\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">NFL Live\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">after his collapse. \u201cGod, we come to you in these moments that we don\u2019t understand, that are hard, because we believe that you\u2019re God and coming to you and praying to you has impact,\u201d he prayed. He went on to say, \u201cWe just want to pray, truly come to you and pray for strength for Damar, for healing for Damar, for comfort for Damar, to be with his family, to give them peace. If we didn\u2019t believe that prayer . . . worked, we wouldn\u2019t ask this of you, God.\u201d Fellow believer and analyst Marcus Spears and host Laura Rutledge bowed their heads along with Orlovsky\u2019s prayer. Cole Claybourn, a podcast producer and writer at\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsspectrum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Sports Spectrum<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/damar-hamlin-witness-secular\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">discussed<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the opportunities that Hamlin\u2019s situation had presented to Christians in their own work settings. \u201cHorrific situations also occur in all our work environments, and though our words may not be broadcast publicly like Orlovsky and Watson\u2019s, we can have an influence for eternity by following the example of people who are unashamed to testify to Christ,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just a few weeks after he collapsed from cardiac arrest during the Buffalo Bills\u2019 Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Damar Hamlin made his first public appearance\u00a0to his fans. After acknowledging that the experience had been \u201ca lot to process,\u201d he expressed his gratitude. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how appreciative I am for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":5583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Prayers Answered: Damar Hamlin Thanks Fans, God For Support After Collapse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Damar Hamlin expressed his gratitude to fans and thanked God after suffering cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game just weeks ago.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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