Bills DL-Turned-Doctor on Damar Hamlin Situation: 'Never Thought About That'
Few would perhaps be equally fully aware of both the gameday and medical effects of football than Dr. Jeremy Towns, M.D. The Samford alum once had NFL aspirations that included a summer stint with the Buffalo Bills but a knee injury since pushed him to the world of medicine.
Dr. Towns is currently completing the final year of his residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after graduating with an M.D. at the University of South Alabama. He has constantly been reminded of his gridiron background over the last week-plus in the week of the scary situation surrounding current Bills safety Damar Hamlin, as he has been frequently queried of the incident where the defender collapsed on the field due to cardiac arrest during a "Monday Night Football" game.
When Dr. Towns began his studies, concussion injuries were beginning to be further analyzed in the wake of several football players diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In an interview with AL.com, he implied that the study of concussions, an undoubted long-term issue, might've created a false sense of security on the field.
“I never thought about my heart stopping. I really never thought about passing out on the field," Dr. Towns said. "I never thought about being paralyzed or any of that nature. You know, if anything I thought about these injuries that I’m sustaining, would they catch up with me down the road, but never thinking that I would possibly lose my life on the field.”
In discussing Hamlin's injury, Dr. Towns was most worried about "neurological recovery ... did the brain receive blood fast enough or quickly enough while they were down?” Thanks to the efforts of the Bills' medical staff and first responders at Cincinnati's Paycor Stadium, Hamlin is on the road to recovery and was released from the hospital earlier this week, shortly after watching his teammates clinch the AFC's No. 2 playoff seed on Sunday.
"I was always hoping for the best, but the physician side of me was always speculating. But then the other side of it too is that this is a young, healthy, elite athlete," Dr. Towns said of Hamlin's condition. "You figure that if anyone could have a positive outcome, it would be a guy such as Damar Hamlin.”
Dr. Towns spent parts of the 2015 training camp process with the Bills, earning three tackles in a single preseason game. He acknowledged that the Hamlin situation could cause some to ponder if future generations, particularly the younger crowd, should partake in the sports, to which he offered both a physical and mental compromise.
"I would argue at a young age it’s probably best for a kid to be playing flag football,” Dr. Towns said. "I like how sports can bring people from all classes, religions, ethnicities together, for one goal and to cheer on their teams. I love that aspect of it. So I’ll always like those positive aspects of sports, but it’s kind of like we have to realize like at what point are we putting too much weight on sports? Because what I’ve also seen is that a lot of people don’t get a chance to play NFL and so sometimes they can feel like it was all a waste.
“But sports was supposed to teach us character. It was supposed to teach us work ethic. It was supposed to teach us how to not give up and perseverance and that type of thing. So it’s a lot of other intangibles that sports deliver that you really can’t get unless you play organized team sports.”
Buffalo (13-3) returns to action on Sunday afternoon, when they begin their playoff trek against the seventh-seeded Miami Dolphins (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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