Thread by @KylenMills

A little bit about Damar Hamlin - past newspaper articles will tell you he’s overcome adversity his whole life. He lost 3 friends to gun violence as a kid, battled through hernia surgeries in college, after being drafted in the 6th round this was the biggest game of his life.

Clearly young man with no shortage of resilience… Praying hard that he overcomes this too. #damarhamlin

democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/f…

pittsburghsportsnow.com/2017/10/04/dam…

When he entered the NFL, Damar started the Chasing M’s Foundation with his first program being a community toy drive. He wrote “I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me.”

wkbw.com/news/local-new…

“If you haven't seen it done, or if it's not reality around you, it's hard to dream it, envision it... I always had big goals, big plans for myself. But this is kind of a big moment in life for me, honestly.” -Damar Hamlin before playing the Steelers

buffalonews.com/sports/bills/b…

Damar opens up about when his dad was imprisoned while he was 12: “that’s when my outlook on life changed… it was just me and my mom now trying to survive. I had to grow up really fast. It instilled a toughness in me. That mental toughness.”

golongtd.com/p/why-damar-ha…

Damar Hamlin says the biggest reason he chose Pitt was to be close to his 6-year-old (at the time) brother:

“Having my little brother around so I could be a role model for him and just show him examples of life that I’ve never really had.”
wivb.com/sports/staying…

Damar Hamlin talks about how the slogan “Chasing M’s” got him through a brutal stretch in college where he had 3 surgeries in one year. He named his foundation that in hopes that it can be a force to get others through tough times too.
tiktok.com/t/ZTRbxrugu/

Clarification - his brother was 6 at the time this article was published, ages 2-6 during Damar’s college career.