OPINION | by Dr. Marc Siegel

In the news business, reporters track stories independently and don’t generally see common ground, except in retrospect. The two big stories over the past week were the battle for the US House of Representatives speakership and the sudden cardiac arrest during the Bills-Bengals NFL game of Buffalo safety 24-year-old Damar Hamlin.

I spent the week covering the latter story, not the former, as Rep. Kevin McCarthy battled for political survival while Hamlin fought for physical survival.

In fact, it wasn’t until Hamlin defied expectations, woke up while still on a ventilator in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center ICU and wrote to the doctors the now-famous words “Did we win?” that I connected this feel-good story in my mind to the ferocious battle going on in the House, also for a win.

But while McCarthy was fighting for his political life, Hamlin was fighting for his actual life — and in fact his doctors responded to his question with “Yes, Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life.”

This was because no matter how rapid and expert the intervention on the football field with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the automated external defibrillator to shock him back into a regular rhythm — the blow to his chest appeared to incite a potentially lethal arrhythmia, a rare happening known as commotio cordis — there was still a great deal of concern over whether the oxygen flow to Hamlin’s brain had been jeopardized enough to lead to any brain damage.

So far the answer remains a resounding no, as his doctors continue to report that he is neurologically intact and is doing well breathing on his own without the ventilator.

McCarthy is doing well too, having finally been declared speaker, but this is where the comparison ends. Whereas Hamlin brought the country together, as we all rooted for his recovery — Democrats and Republicans alike, football fans as well as those who loathe the sport — the McCarthy debacle was just the latest example of DC meanness and divisiveness.

Exhibit A: Right before the final vote, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) nearly came to blows with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on the House floor. All the wheeling and dealing, the confusion and disruption, the nastiness and pettiness proved once again why Congress is so unpopular among the American people. It didn’t matter whether you were for McCarthy or against him; what mattered was the unseemliness of the process.

Damar Hamlin, by contrast, is a much higher-class story, and he’s widely popular. This is no accident. He is all about winning too, all about competition and overcoming obstacles, but in a way that brings out the best in us. Many Americans can relate to the battle to overcome sudden illness, just as many physicians admire the tremendous effort put forth by the University of Cincinnati doctors and the staff of the Buffalo Bills.

We love to hear the story about Hamlin’s personal courage, about his being a role model for his younger brother as he rose from a blue-collar childhood in the town of McKees Rocks, Pa., where more than 30% live in poverty. It is no surprise that Damar’s Chasing M’s GoFundMe campaign has now raised more than $8.5 million for kids’ toys in his hometown, as Americans across the country contribute even as they root for Damar’s full recovery.

His story reminds us that we can do better as a country, that we can come together to rise above the bitterness and bickering in our government and relate once again to our strength and courage and kindness.

This is what makes America great — not who represents us but the tenets we stand for. As Hamlin himself tweeted, “The love is felt, & extremely real. No matter race or religion everybody coming together in prayer!”

Link to article: https://nypost.com/2023/01/08/a-tale-of-two-fights-damar-hamlin-shows-the-best-of-us-congress-not-so-much/