Denny Kellington, Former Syracuse Football Athletic Trainer, Credited With Saving Damar Hamlin's Life
Former Syracuse football athletic trainer Denny Kellington, now an assistant athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills, is credited with live saving CPR that revived Damar Hamlin after he collapsed during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night. Kellington was with Syracuse from 2005 to 2017, and his quick actions saved Hamlin's life, according to medical professionals.
Hamlin collapsed during Monday night's game against the Bengals after tackling wide receiver Tee Higgins. It was evident immediately this was not an ordinary injury. The game was suspended after Hamlin was eventually taken to the hospital via ambulance following Bills' training staff's life saving actions.
During a press conference on Thursday, University of Cincinnati Medical Center doctors pointed to the actions of Kellington and others on the field as why Hamlin has been showing such positive progress over the last few days. That includes waking up on Thursday, holding hands with loved ones and communicating via written notes.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott praised Kellington during his press conference on Thursday as well.
"Denny is one of our assistant trainers," McDermott said. "Nate Breske is our head trainer. Just like anything else, our medical team goes through their mock exercises for things like that. But we are never around to see that. As they say, practice pays off and it did in this case. Again, the context of it, for an assistant to find himself at that position and needing to take the action that he did and step up. Take charge like he did, and there were others on the field as well, was nothing short of amazing. The courage that that took, you talk about a real leader, a real hero, in saving Damar's life. Just admire his strength."
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