“When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field early in a game against Cincinnati on Jan. 2 and required life-saving CPR, David Silverstein had déjà vu.
Silverstein, a certified athletic trainer, now works with the U.S. Army at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma, Washington. But two years ago, in January 2021, he was sitting in the gym at Shaw High School in East Cleveland during halftime of a boys basketball game when a player rushed onto the floor.
“Z’s down, come quick!”
“Z” was Zaharius Hillmon, a senior guard and younger brother of WNBA player Naz Hillmon.
Silverstein sprinted to the locker room to find Hillmon violently convulsing as a terrified teammate cradled him. Silverstein told the player to carefully lower Hillmon to the floor.
At first glance, as Hillmon’s eyes rolled back into his head, Silverstein thought the teen was having a seizure.
But then, “I did my ABCs, like I’d been trained to do,” Silverstein recalled.
That meant checking Hillmon’s airway, breathing and circulation. Hillmon was gasping repeatedly, a sure-tell sign someone can’t breathe on their own, he said. Silverstein checked Hillmon’s pulse. When he felt nothing, he immediately started CPR.
Hillmon, just 17, was having a heart attack.”…