last we heard from the nfl he was in critical condition in a local cincinnati hospital. you see the prayers there that are being offered on the field. the medical attention that was going on. here at fox news, we're going to continue to cover this. i'm jason chaffetz. stay with us. more to come. >> good evening, this is a fox news alert i'm lawrence jones in new york, tragedy plays out on national television during monday night football game between the buffalo bills and the cincinnati bengals. bills defensive player demar hamlin in critical condition tonight following a hit on the field in cincinnati. hamlin apparently received a blow to the chest from another player after making a tackle. he got up immediately, but then fell to the ground. cpr was administered on the field and he was given oxygen before being transported to a

cincinnati area hospital. the game was suspended a short time later. 24 year oldham lin is in the middle of his third season with the bills. he's considered one of the game's star safeties. we are praying for him and his family. let's go to my colleague and friend will cain, fox news host. fox and friends weekend will, we're obviously praying for him and his family. we saw what was happening on the field immediately. you saw those players really come together. not just one team but both teams together. will, i'm told that his mom rode with him to the level one trauma center? what are your initial thoughts brother? >> well, lawrence, i think it's probably -- i think it's responsible of us that i start with this. i think this is as close to verified as we can probably trust at this moment. a man named jordan rooney who says he is in damar hamlin's

camp, his marketing rep, works with damar, has given an update on damar from the hospital. it seems very, very legitimate here. he is conversing with other journalists through twitter to some extent, lawrence. he says the following, he says, his vitals, regarding damar, his vie always are back to normal and they put him to sleep to put a breathing tube down his throats. they are running tests, we will provide more as we have them. the sources is me josh dan rooney his friend and marketing rep. hoping that is legitimate lawrence that that is 100 percent accurate. it appears at this moment that is an accurate update from inside damar hamlin's camp. lawrence i will a tell you this. i was at a family christmas tonight. i wasn't actually watching the game intently in fact i was in the car riding home when it happened, i was listening to it on the radio had both of my sons in the car. and as any sports fan does we start reaching back in history for something that we remember

and this is so singular, there is nothing like this in my memory. i i remember, you probably do lawrence under pretty young hank gathers falling on the court in basketball in the early 90s it was a massive event. two years ago christian erickson a massive star in the world of soccer in europe fell to the field brought back to life with an aed and cpr but this was football and there was a collision involved here so this is different. just immediately to see the way the players surrounded damar hamlin, the tears in theirs eyes, the emotion, immediately on the field you could tell this was different and this was over. i don't fault the nfl for taking time to make sure they had as much information as possible to ultimately cancel the game. you want to do that with as much accurate and responsible information as you can but you could tell, i could tell through the radio, you could tell through the television and every player on the field could tell, this is different, and all that mattered was the prayers for damar hamlin. >> you know, will, i was

actually on a plane coincidentally traveling from buffalo and i was watching this on the plane as it was playing out. and you could feel the erieness as i had my head sets on watching this play out. but i want to pick up on the nfl. because that's already started to be part of the conversation. this seems like a typeical hit on the football field. so how do you regulate this sort of activity? how do you make the call when to end the game? how do you know when it is time to bring the docs on the field in situations. should he have been on the field. we kind of quarterback these things after the fact but we already know the nfl is under a lot of scrutiny these days. >> yeah. i'll try to take each one of those in order lawrence. for the nfl how do you know when the call the game. i don't know the answer to that and i'm not sure the nfl did before this moment because they never encountered this moment. the nfl encountered as you know

traumatic head injuries, spinal injuries. they are prepared for violence on the field because to your second question in there lawrence you simply can't take violence out of football. it is part of it. you try to do your best to protect those involved who choose to participate in a violent game. my children play football, lawrence. we all understand what's involved in this game. and so then you prepare. and the nfl is prepared. there are doctors -- is listening to the broadcast on the radio. they were talking about, they're literally inside the stadium lawrence dozens of doctors assigned to the two different teams in that stadium. there's a hospital on call, local hospital closest one available in each city where a game is being conducted. there are training staff and aeds and medical equipment ready and available for whatever could possibly and hopefully never happen on a football field. that being said, there is no way to regulate. and, look, football is particularly violent, lawrence, but there's no way to regulate

danger out of sports. and i'll tell you this lawrence and jason chaffetz just had a doctor on, i don't want to speculate but i think it's responsible we just heard from a doctor, this, from a distance, looks like comodiocortis which is a blunt force to the chest disruption of the heart rhythm. now i don't know. my perspective, lawrence, is he did actually a deep dive investigative report on this. it never aired for outside the line. the reason it didn't air lawrence is because it's so rare that this happens. it's incredibly, incredibly rare. it happens in lacrosse. you ever seen how fast a lacrosse ball flies across a field? it happens in baseball. you see how fast a baseball pitch flies. it happens in soccer. any type of object that can hit the chest can disrupt the heart's rhythm and the way you prepare, and the nfl was in many cases is you can put chest protecters into every sport but you have an aed available and

aeds are available in many many sports situations and they were tonight. i don't know, and i want to really emphasize lawrence, i don't want to speculate i just want to provide perspective and doctors will be much more, and i'm sure you'll talk to doctors tonight, much better to talk about this. but that's my perspective in covering sports for decades, being a fan my entire life and doing some reporting on that particular issue. >> will, before i let you go because i think it's a part of the conversation as a former athlete myself, we look up to these guys as young people. do you look at, you know, you have children, you're a father, you have two boys. do you reevaluate them playing the sport so early when you see pros like hamlin go through something like this? >> lawrence, you know, i reevaluate everything at all times because i'm a father. i always want to run a risk reward analysis for building the

best life -- no, that's not the best word. i don't build my children's life i guide their life the most prosperous and healthy lives they can have. i would be lying if i said yeah, it crossed my mind. i don't know that the particular incident, you know, inspires me to reevaluate for example my boys playing football more than any other incident because i know how -- if it is what it appears to be, and again we will wait to make decisions, but it's so rare. you know, it's so rare that something like this happens, lawrence, that i would be lying if i said i didn't factor it in and consider it but i would also be lying if i told you that it forced my hand, that it made my decision. everything in life, everything, lawrence, is a risk reward analysis and will not ignore the rewards that come along with playing sports, including football. >> will cain powerful words tonight i know you have fox and friends in the morning. thanks so much for staying up with us tonight. >> you bet, thanks lawrence.

>> joining us now is fox news medical contribute tours dr. marc siegel and dr. janette. thank you so much for joining me on the program tonight. dr. siegel, i want to go to you. obviously we're not playing the hit for the audience because we don't want to show them such graphic images right there. but when you evaluate it, i know you haven't been able to assess or evaluate him as a patient. but what do you see taking place on the field? >> lawrence, good evening. first of all it does look like it was a hit to the chest. that's the issue. but it doesn't look like a severe blow to the chest which is why people like that card i don't just just on, talking about comocortis what that is you hit the chest and you get an arrhythmia and that heart beats without damage to the heart occurring. we don't know that yet because we don't know what the heart

looks like in the hospital. we don't know. but the ideaed that cpr was administered just suggest that he had no rhythm at that time because that's when you do cpr when you don't have a pulse. if they manage to bring him back and the reports are he's in critical condition at the hospital, that's already a positive sign. again could it have been an arrhythmia, could it become lethal could it have caused the heart to stop, pump on his chest do cpr on a very quick manner because of all the personnel around there as will cain was saying and then he's brought to the hospital. some preliminary reports from his rep are that he's doing okay but that is not yet confirmed. we're certainly hoping and praying that that's true. >> doctor, before i go to the other doctor, i want to go back to the hitting of the heart. does it matter the speed that the heart was hit at? what would cause something like this? is it the force of impact of

these obviously athletes, some of the best in the world, something looks so minute but in a game like this, did that make the difference there? >> excellent question. if it was a really severe amount of trauma, blunt trauma, it could have bruised the heart but i want everyone to know the heart works on an elaborate electrical system, very fine tuned and if you happen to disrupt that electrical system at just the right moment you can accepted the heart into a spin essentially where it's not pumping enough blood. that's what seems to be the most likely thing here but again we can't confirm that. the hit itself doesn't look like it was sufficient over video by the way. obviously i wasn't there to actually have damaged the heart muscle. but we can't rule that out. >> doctor, i want to go to you because we're getting reports he's not breathing on his own that he has some assistance and

we just got out of the covid era where wherever you hear about a patient needing assistance breathing you start to panic. is this a little different? >> no. and i saw the video. i saw what happened and my thoughts are prayers with the family. i'm praying for him, a young, healthy athlete. but what we saw is you saw the orange helmet of the opposite team player ram right into damar's chest. that is a clear blunt force trauma to the chest. and like dr. siegel said that can put your heart into an arrhythmia. that can make your heart stop. so whenever your heart isn't beating properly, when it's quivering when it goes into ventricular fibrillation you have to take action immediately within 1-2 minutes. every minute that passes is a reduced chance of survival and god bless the medics there on the field, they got to him immediately they started cpr immediately because if your heart isn't beating patrol you're not getting blood flow to the brain or rest of your body

and that's when you faint or collapse and that can happen in a matter of seconds. could that blunt force trauma to the chest have caused his heart to stop or go into abnormal rhythm or did he have something else going on like an aneurism in some part of his body or brain or a ordinary that started to bleed we don't know the exact details but yes when you hear someone's not breathing on their own it's scary, it's frightening but that can happen if you go unconscious if your heart stops if you go into an abnormal rhythm you have trouble breathing and they have to put sometimes what's called an intubation tube down into your lungs and heart area to help you to breathe until you're strong enough, until they can get your heart strong enough to beat on its own. >> you know, dr. janette nturks shewait i'm looking at the season coming to a close and we're getting ready to go into the playoffs and these players have gone through so much this season.

and i hear you talk about what happened tonight or what could have happened before. could that be a possibility for this moment? because when you look at it and if you've been watching football your entire life, it didn't look like anything was that abnormal. >> yeah, that's a good question. i mean, could he have been fighting a cold or maybe had some sort of viral illness, we don't know. but these nfl players they're in tip top shape and condition. they have the best medical care and they undergo physical examinations and, you know, ekgs and echos to make sure they're in the best shape from literally head to toe. so i would assume if he wasn't feeling well or doing well that his coach and the team doctors would say, hey, why don't you sit out this game. but, you know, sometimes the players, they're so excited and they're so eager to play for their team and community they don't realize the extent of

their condition. and, yes, it is possible that if he was already feeling under the weather or if there was something else going on then this blow to the chest just kind of put him over the edge but again we don't know. we're baiting for more information to come out but in the meantime we feed to pray for this young man and his family. >> dr. siegel we're getting word from our news room we should be expecting a press conference at the hospital. do you expect them to share a lot of information or is that going to be covered by confidentiality? the country is praying for damar right now. i know the entire league is praying for him right now. what can we expect at this press conference? >> i think they'll probably -- that's a great question. i think they'll probably reveal some basics. now, he clearly made it to the hospital. he clearly is being called in critical condition which shows that he's alive. the question is, is he back into

normal rhythm. i want to know that. i think they might reveal that. you mentioned a ventilator, you know, that would be standard by the way, someone that's been in a cardiac arrest that's brought back by cpr to a hospital, you want to decrease the pressure on the brain, you want to get control of the lungs and you want the person to be asleep. because you don't want to be assessing this right away. that's how we get control. so if he's on a ventilator that's what i expect them to say and that's not a bad sign. you know, i would love to hear that he's breathing properly, his heart is back in normal rhythm and again the blood flow to the brain was preserved. that's key. we may get some of that information now. >> dr. marc siegel dr. janette neshewait, thanks for joining the program on this breaking news >> we want to go to our friend jim gray. jim you have been doing this a long time, have covered multiple athletes, been a sports caster for a while, a fox news

contributor, you've interviewed the best of the best. you've seen them be resilient. you've seen them at their worst. what is your reaction to what's happening tonight? >> well, my reaction is just let's hope than damar hamlin was able to survive this and that he's going to be able to lead a normal life and hopefully by being able to lead a normal life, he will come through this without any consequences. i'm sure football is much, much further in the background. and we have seen other players in other instances come back from things that have been not quite like this but have been able to lead a normal life, and that would be my hope right now. it's not good news that he's in critical condition but i think it's excellent news that he has gotten off the field and he's alive and has made it to the hospital and they have the finest folks who have been able to treat him because those folks are in all nfl stadiums at all nfl games all the time.

you have the best of the best, who are the team doctors, who are these fence and first responders at games, ambulances are there and are ready. we see this a lot in boxing where guys have been knocked out and are transported to hospitals and have been able to tyou know, recover. so my hope right now, lawrence, would be, and i think everybody who's watching this and who was viewing the game tonight and even those who were not are this young man, he's 24 years old in the prime of his life, that he is able to, you know, survive this and come out of it and have a normal life. >> damar's been fighting his entire life. if you read about him. i have no doubt that he is fighting in that hospital right now. jim, the elephant in the room is the scrutiny that the nfl is under right now. we want to keep the focus on damar. but there's questions

surrounding, did they wait too long to cancel this game. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, no. they're only as good as the information that's in front of them. we see broken legs, we see torn acls and head injuries and concussions and so forth and, you know, we rarely, in very, very infrequent instances do we see cpr being performed. so they can only go by what the information is in front of them. clearly you cannot have players and coaches, when a guy is fighting for his life and in peril, be able to continue to play a game. it's just not the proper frame of mind and it's, you know, it's so hard wrenching to those who know him best, his family sitting in the stands. of course you can't continue. but if they don't know that three minutes into it, you know, you can't expect that something that is on national television where people have paid to come to see the game, where these teams are prepared in a season that is full of preparations, they're fighting the for a super

bowl, to have a judgment made in the first few seconds. so that criticism while i'm sure it's coming and everyone will make a snap decision, that's not possible to do in the immediate instance in front of us lawrence. all of this is so secondary. the nfl is not going to do anything, anything that is going to further imperil this young man. >> jim i'm up against a hard break brother. thanks so much for joining the program. if you're just now tuning in we are he a covering the breaking news about damar hamlin with the buffalo bills. stay with fox news a as we continue our coverage. don't go anywhere. hot tub, why? continue our coverage. don't go anywhere. but it's pretty perfect. booking.com, booking.yeah. if you think all pads are exactly the same... think again. this always ultra thin is our best yet. it wicks gushes 90% faster and absorbs even more. for up to 100% leak-free and odor-free comfort.

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>> lawrence: fox news alert, we are still covering the tragic news of damar hamlin in critical condition. we're expecting a press

conference soon. we'll be updating you. we got this message from the nfl and players association. this is what they said. the nflpa and everyone in our community is praying for damar hamlin. we have been in touch with the bills and bengals players and with the nfl. the only thing that matters at the moment is damar's health and well-being. joining us now is c.j. mo former nfl wide receiver. tj thank you so much for joining the program. we are praying for you, brother, as well as the first nfl community. when you saw the hit, when you saw him not get back up after collapsing, what went through your mind? >> well, so i'm from st. louis and we had a hockey defenseman named chris pronger, 1998 took a slap shot to the chest and it was very close to what we saw here. he got up, was fine. two skates, collapsed. his heart had skipped a beat, he

was out unconscious for 20 seconds. he was back four days later but it was very scary. so we've seen some of this where you sort of have the blunt force and it knocks somebody out. this was obviously different, they did not have to give chris pronger cpr they gave him cpr. i was watching, there wasn't a whole lot of debate, once upon a time there would have been. there wasn't debate about cancelling this thing. i think the nfl was buying time to find out if he was going to be okay. they gave five minutes to warm-up you guys do something while we figure out what we're doing here. but the decision to cancel the game was really obvious to me if you believe in the power of prayer. because you cannot tell me, and the entire team, both teams i think, were kneeling down in prayer. if you believe in the power of prayer, then you understand that all of those guys, they're all best friends, certainly teammates, you cannot expect me to go figure out how to conquer

cover two when i am in prayer for my friend during his most needed time in life. you can see on screen now. that's what these guys were doing. it would have been dangerous to go back into this game. the nfl made the right call, i don't think people should be upset with the nfl taking time to make the call. no harm no foul. it would have been dangerous for guys to play after that. i think there would have been significantly more injuries if that did happen. the right thing happened and everybody now, i just read a treatment from joe danman from fox 19 cincinnati he said the bills are getting in a plane going home. they're not sticking around for this week to try to play the game again. they're in pray trying to interseed on their teammate's behalf. >> what you said is so profound. for all the talk in our culture that we have lost faith, that we have turned away from god, there

was a clear unison prayer for damar and it wasn't just the players on the field, it's people in the stands. you look on social media, people were offering their prayers. there is still some good within the american culture right now. and i think we're witnessing it right now. everybody is stopping and praying for damar and his family. >> i think that's an excellent point. what's the old saying? there's no such thing as an atheist in the fox hole? when it comes down potentially final moments, everybody's in prayer. if you don't believe in god you're hoping there's a god in prayer. if you spent any amount of time on twitter, to your point about social media, you understand it's a cesspool of just vial people tearing each other down and it's just a miserable place. i mean i'm on twitter often but it's a miserable place. but what you saw and what you see in moments of tragedies like this is a lot of people saying

praying for you. which this is a country of christian faith, still around 70% of people in america claim to be christians according to research center. so sometimes it takes tragedy unfortunately to get us here but this is -- if there is such a thing as a silver lining this is it. seeing that. i can't remember the last time i saw that on a football field. you will a see a few guys at center field occasionally before the game or after the game. maybe it's ten, 15, 20 guys. this was a said yum in prayer trying to intercede heaping god would heal or save this man's life. >> analyst: so powerful. tj do you anticipate some changes to the nfl after this moment? i know it's kind of harded to make a prediction on that because we don't know the outcome. maybe we get some more information from this press

conference that we're expecting to give us an update but do you see any changes coming. >> i don't think so. i mean you look at the hit. the nfl has done everything they can. they bent over backwards to get head trauma out of the league. i was a former slot receiver. i was always the nail never the hammer. i'm not a fan of the targeting rule i think it makes the nfl soft. this had nothing to do with this. he's been hit hundreds of times probably thousands of times harder than that. it was probably the wrong timing as some of the doctors said earlier, it was perhaps something going on prior, right, leading up to it. but unfortunately, and obviously this is, it's just the reality, this is a him problem and not a general population problem. because people take these hits all the time. he took these hits all the time.

i'm sure he's been hit identically to what just happened there and popped right up obviously was not rushed to the hospital and getting cpr. so this is such an anomaly and again this is why we go straight to prayer. because there was something going on beyond a normal football play here. we're not showing the hit on screen here, but it's not like a vicious hit. if anybody watched it -- and you've played any amount of football. >> you played it if you watched it for years, it looks like a typical hit. tj, you've been insightful today. thank you so much for joining the program >> if you're just tuning in right now, we have this visual outside of the hospital for damar hamlin. fans, this is a candlelight vigil, people offering their prayers in support for the nfl player. we'll continuing covering this all night. we'll take a quick break real quick. but again, i just want to show this visual outside, damar

hamlin. his mother is said to be in the hospital. he's in critical condition. they said he is stable, but we'll be expecting a press conference real soon. more fox news in a moment. when you're ready to go, but static says “whoa.” try bounce lasting fresh. more freshness. more softness. less static. less wrinkles. new bounce lasting fresh. yeah! it's the sheet.

>> lawrence: fox news alert, if you're just now joining the program we are covering the breaking news of buffalo bills safety damar hamlin listed in critical condition. a tough injury on the field. they say he is in stable condition. we are anticipating, there's some conflicting reports, a press conference. we want to go to our friend michele tafoya former sideline reporter for nbc sports. you've been very close to these athletes. you've seen some of these injuries. what is your reaction to this breaking news today and the man he was, he is. >> he is, yes. and we pray that that remains

the case. i know the whole nation is praying for this kid. whose name many people probably didn't know until tonight. but this is such a human moment, right? we've seen injuries before. this one initially, you know, you see the hit, you see him fall backwards, and i know we're not showing that, but it didn't look like much. it looked like an everyday nfl hit. and so when he got up and then stumbled backward it was really hard to understand what may have happened. the ensuing moments were really the telling part. no camera, no camera angle, could have shown us exactly how tense the situation was. but what you saw on the players faces and the way that the tears started falling and the prayers started happening and the ra pitity the two athletic training staffs came out, i will tell you having served on the sidelines for decades, the athletic

training staff, the medical personnel on those sidelines are so well trade to react as speedily as possible in these situations. same with spinal cord injuries. this is something they trained for. they rehearse this stuff. so they were ready to roll and that, thank god, was the case here tonight. but you still can't diminish the seriousness and the heart felt angst on the players faces and coaches faces and everything that followed. it really is just such a jarring moment but such a rare one. really a freak injury, lawrence. >> lawrence: you know, michele, i can't help but think these athletes are so good, they perform like machines. but they're not. they break. and they have injuries. and i think so often we forget that in these conversations. you know, damar's family was wafrngs he was just greeting his

mom on the sideline hugging her. >> i know. >> lawrence: i can only think of my own mother and her reaction to me laying on the field like that. >> the panic she must have felt, i can't even imagine. i'm a mom of two kids as well, and they play sports and, you know, but the speed and the velocity of these kinds of hits in the nfl is, really you can't really know what it's like until you're down on the sideline and you witness it firsthand. it is so much different when you are physically present to hear it and feel it. you can actually feel some of these hits as they happen. now, again, this one looked pretty routine, pretty standard. and thank god, like i said, the medical personnel on the field were able to respond as quickly as they were. we do look at these guys as entertainers, bigger than life, strong almost invisible that there's nothing they can't do but they do break. but we do see it.

we saw ryan shazier of the steelers suffer that awful spinal injury that paralyzed him for a time. we've seen it happen to coaches. we saw an umpire in cincinnati suffer a massive heart attack on opening day in april of i think that was 1996. now that's an umpire it's a little bit different but you're right, these are human beings. >> lawrence: what can you tell us about damar? because we want to keep him lifted up in prayer but we want to talk about the good about him as well. i haven't heard a bad thing about him so far. it's all been love. >> sorry my dog just chimed in we're on live television and i'm at home. young. think about people who are 24 or what you were doing when you were 24. obviously close with his family. and i think again, look, this event was startling enough that

players were driven to tears. that happens when they love their brother. and you look at the tweets take are out there tonight asking people pray for my brother. there is a brotherhood on these teams, and between the teams. you know, look, you saw joe burrow go over to the bills quarterback and hug him and they shared that moment. but people on both sides of this, quote, unquote, battle were moved and shaken by this. so that brotherhood is tight. you fight together, you lose together, you win together, you work together, you journey together all season long. and it is hard work these guys put in together. and there is so much time together that clearly this was a beloved young man. and i think his spiel will show you that, and, again, just so young and so new to the game, so young in his career.

but the safety position is a dangerous one but again, lawrence, i don't think you can overstate this enough. this was a freak accident. you look at that hit, you can analyze it six ways till sunday and you ask yourself how could this possibly have done this to this guy. so was there a pre-existing condition? was it the exact right moment for something this unusual to take place. all of that is yet to be answered and it's not possible, not right to speculate. >> lawrence: we're waiting to see if we're going to get this press conference. but michele i think you hit on an important part. they are brothers. a lot of these guys go to pop warner and go to high school and college these says players all the way up and now the nfl. so there's a mutual respect. a lot of these players, they are the ticket to not only make it

out of unfortunate situations about you to bring and lift their family up as well. and so there is a connection with these players. they get each other. >> yeah. and the bills having another spectacular season. but, you know, as everyone has said all night, football is secondary to this. i remember a defensive line coach for the minnesota vikings once telling me every player in this league has so much more life after football than they will have had up and through football. they play to the average of probably 30 years old. they have so much life to live after this. and it isn't just about the nfl. it is for them right now, this is their obsession, this is what they're into. it's all goal-driven and all they want, every single player in this league just wants to get to a super bowl and win it and that is the dream. but in reality, right now, this is about this young man's life, him getting better, him healing

and him able to live all of that life that he has ahead of him beyond football. >> lawrence: you know, michele, we continue to pray for damar, but we have to talk about the reality of what's been going on in the nfl. and there's been so much scrutiny and there has been so much different protocols. even though this was a freak accident, do you think those that already were criticizing the nfl, is this going to add another layer to that criticism? is this going to add more protocols for the league? will they question the call, was it too late? >> to call the game?. >> lawrence: yeah. >> you know, i think the nfl is always under scrutiny. it just is. it is a big behemoth of an organization that makes a lot of money and makes a lot of money for other people and so it's always going to be questioned. and certainly there's going to

be a lot of reflection as to how they handled this moment and i think some of it's fair and i think some of it's not fair. because, again, as everyone has said, this is maybe the most unusual thing we have seen in an nfl game. and so there's no handbook. there's no rule book. no guide for how to handle a moment like this when it's the first time something like this has happened. so it's fair to question them, it absolutely is. as far as the protocol and the play, i'm just not sure. again this hit did not look out of the ordinary. and we'll see. if it's something that they say, this could have been prevented if, then we'll see. what is that if? is it an additional layer of chest protection? what is it? but that will all come as the questions are answered as this diagnosis is made and as we determine what really happened out there. but i can't see -- they have worked very, very hard to make the game safer. head trauma, concussions have declined continuously over the last five years or so.

you know, they've made those rules to make that happen. so i'm just not sure this one could have been prevented and we just don't know or won't know until all the questions areens aed about this particular injury. >> lawrence: yeah, michele we just need more information. >> yeah, we do. >> lawrence: looking at this hit it doesn't look different. >> no, it doesn't. >> lawrence: it looks like a regular hit. michele thanks so much for joining the program. >> nice to be with you. >> lawrence: speaking of getting information, we're bringing in our medical consultants dr. marc siegel and dr. janette neshewait. docs i'm going to bring you into this conversation because it's important to have this conversation with doctors outside of the league. when you see what's happening with the league today, do you believe this is going to cause more criticism? does there need to be more testing? or are we tested out right now in the league? looks like everyone was, you know, can't -- you know, were on

their posts tonight. >> well, this is not -- >> i think that everyone was on their post tonight. but you can never have too much of what you just talked about. where's the defibrillator, is it close enough. everyone poured on the field to do cpr, was it soon enough. was everyone ready for this? again we said before we think he just dropped which makes you think of ventricular fibrillation and a quivering of the heart can occur if he had the blow to the chest at exactly the wrong time. this is a contact sport so the more the better. i would agree with everything michelle just said except one thing about concussions you can never have enough about that. yes the nfl protocol hats stiffened up, that has nothing to do with this case of course, but hits to the head is a big problem in the nfl and in football in general so we need more of that. again looks like a very rapid response here, got him off to the hospital. he made it out of cpr it looks

like, in critical condition. we're hoping for the best. we're waiting and praying, but the rapidity of the response and being alert is the key. >> lawrence: dr. janette neshewait, obviously the nfl has some of the best doctors because these are some of the best athletes in the world. the colleges have a little bit more. but what about the high schools and middle schools because we have young people playing this sport as well. do we need to do more to keep our young people safe, not eliminating the sport, not watering the sport down, but making sure we have those safety protocols so we don't lose the sport? >> i mean, it's always a good idea every so often to review your protocols, your health physicals. i do a lot of physicals for young people, especially if they're going to begin soccer or football or basketball. and a lot of doctors conduct physicals that include, for example, an ekg, blood work, and, for example, if some -- some of my patients have an underlying medical history

within their family like say maybe their mom or dad has a history of heart disease then we'll check, for example, we'll do a stress test t you have to look to see, does the patient -- like did damar have a history of diabetes or sickle cell anemia or high bloop even if you're fit you can be born with that. did this maybe contribute to his collapse. these are things we look at, take a full physical, history and examination. and yes absolutely sometimes we have to make changes. that's why we say medicine is a practice and we do the best we can but every so often you have to sit dunn and review the rules and protocols. but wa we saw tonight, this is not a common occurrence. it's quite rare. and that's a good thing. and unfortunately that happens. you know, this is a contact sport, it's a dangerous sport, anything can happen but, you know, these athletes, they know their risks that they're taking and they do this because they love what they do and that's just part of life. >> lawrence: yeah. you know, docs, i am a supporter

of medicine and prayer. i feel like we need them both. so thank you all so much for joining me on the program tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >> lawrence: thank you sociality if you're just watching, fox news coverage we are covering the tragic news of damar hamlin, in critical condition, expecting a press conference soon. stay tuned to more coverage on fox news. don't go anywhere. it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, ♪ ♪ upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief... when you need it most. hey, thanks for helping me out. of course. you can easily get helpful customer service over the phone or on the progressive app pretty much anywhere. like at the coffee shop, at the park, or on the moon. just kidding. it's another coffee shop. ♪ acoustic soul music throughout ♪

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>> we continue to cover the breaking news of damar hamlin in critical condition. listed as stable. he's been intubated. they do feel like he's going to pull through. we are praying for him right now but i want to bring in my colleague fox news host will cain. i was just reading the tweet by josh allen and he said so clearly >> that's the response from the athletes for both teams. that was the response for the fans in the stands. that's the response of the people that were outside the

hospital right now. >> you've done a wonderful job tonight of not only giving us from the perspective of medical doctors like dr. nashua and dr. sable, what we can responsibly look into, speculate what might've happened on that football field tonight, let me now give the perspective of where you are taking me. i'll follow your lead. images now coming outside of that hospital, stefon diggs his team a wide receiver for the buffalo bills took an uber to the hospital. had to talk his way past the security guard to be in there, to get in there, to be with his teammate. the hospital right now is surrounded by cincinnati bengals fans. here is why i bring that up, lawrence. i was talking to jason chaffetz a little bit. there are tragic things happening all around this country to everyday americans. why is it this one instance, this one tragedy has commandeered all of our

attention? sports has its place in our society and lives that truly has a capability and truly fulfills the capability of bringing us all together. you and i might be cowboy fans, we run into an eagle fan and give it to each other but we are actually with each other. it could be us cheering together or could be us ripping each other, but we are with each other. that is what is unique about sports. you've done a good job and you send this earlier with michelle before is about a man, about a human. damar hamlin. sixth round pick on the second year in the league. 24 years old out of pit tweeted outtonight that "damar s the best of us. damar hamlin started a charity of chasing ms." two years ago, he's in his third year. it's up over a million dollars. it's essentially a toys for tots drive every year and the past couple of hours, what have people done, sports fans have

done? they flooded that charity with money, lawrence. money, support, prayers but that's what we come together to do to help this man. it's what his teammates have, we as fans have, we can be together here in prayer lifting up this man, this human. >> i'm speechless after that. because we've been so busy. like i said, i haven't heard a bad thing about him. all i've heard is the good and so many of us can relate because a lot of us grew up playing sports and for many people that come from his background, my background, your background, it's taken out. the brotherhood is standing together for there is been so much criticism for the nfl. i start to see that social media traffic as a monitoring it died down and more people talk about

tomorrow damar. the negativity doesn't seem like it's cracking through tonight because that's not who he is. >> well, so, and you had on a hockey player earlier and he was talking about what a cesspool it can become a social media. and he's right. you saying that, it's filled with negativity and some of that is understandable, lawrence. when you face tragedy, any handrail of sanity you can grab and what we often grab his blame. i do it. i can admit to being human. you look for someone to blame. blame the nfl. there is a host of things being blamed on social media. maybe some of them are true, maybe some of them are not. but in the end it's not helping the situation in the moment until we absolutely no if there is something to blame. so i understand the human instinct. what's happening in the real world isn't quite the same. what's happening in the real

world as people gathered around the television talking with their family, talking with their friends, thinking about a human being. you are right about sports. for better or worse, and i probably do it too much, it's the language i speak with my sons. it's how we teach life lessons about resilience, loyalty, honor, pride. it's the way we experience come up for many of us, it's the way we experience life together and i'll repeat it one more time, lawrence. i think what we can do together is pray for this man. >> yeah. will cain, you can catch him tomorrow morning on "fox & friends." >> thanks, lawrence. >> you may have heard will talk about this. damar hamlin started a gofundme to purchase for toys for children in his community. the initial goal was only 2500. tonight it has garnered more than a million dollars in donations. that's who we are as americans.

we are praying for him tonight, praying for the nfl that we can get some answers of what happened, how we can prevent it from happening again. if you are watching fox news right now, stay with us. i want to begin at the top of the hour. this is a fox news alert. i'm lawrence jones in new york. tragedy plays out on national television during monday night football between the buffalo bills and the cincinnati bengals. bills' defensive player damar hamlin in critical condition tonight following a hit on the field in cincinnati. hamlin apparently received a blow from another player after making a tackle. he got up and immediately, but then fell to the ground. cpr administered on the field and he was given oxygen before being transported to a cincinnati area hospital. the game was suspended a short time later. 24-year-old hamlin is in the