HOLLAND, Mich. — When Jocelyn Leonard heard about Buffalo Bills star Damar Hamlin collapsing after a tackle during Monday night’s football game, she knew what the family was going through.
“For his family, for Damar’s family, they’re just hoping and praying that everything they’re doing at the hospital is going to help him get better,” Leonard said. “I mean, it’s just a waiting game, I guess right now. But yeah, hopefully he got everything in time and he can make a recovery.”
Time is of the essence, she said.
Back in March 2011, her son Wes — a Fennville basketball star who she said had a smile that lit up rooms — collapsed on the court after making a game-winning shot. He then died.
“Anyone who lost a child, no matter for what reason, will tell you that it’s a hole that’s always there,” Leonard said during an interview with FOX 17 on Tuesday. “And you have to find somehow how to navigate life. You do. You figure it out.”
Leonard did. She teamed up with Wes’ old coach Ryan Klinger and created The Wes Leonard Heart Team, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring the lives of young people who have died due to sudden cardiac arrest, by donating free automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, to schools throughout the state.
“I think for what we hear from doctors and when we talk to them, it’s probably one of the smart if not the smartest machine that you can use ‘cause it’s going to walk you through on what to do,” Klinger said. “I think the hardest part that people have is being willing to put it on somebody. And again, it can’t harm you. If it’s not needed, the device will not harm that person any further.”
Since the organization began, they’ve given away around 500 AEDs to schools throughout the state, and 45 this year. They hold different fundraisers throughout the year to help pay for the AEDs, which can cost around $1,500 individually.
They currently have a waiting list of about 35 other schools and groups that would like one. After Hamlin’s collapse on Monday night, they expect that number to rise.
“Obviously it brings back a lot of things from 10-11 years ago,” Klinger said about his reaction to Monday’s incident. “It also brought back a lot of emotion. The fact that I really started to think about the guys that were playing for me back when this event happened, when Wes passed, and just wondering how they were doing. It was a good time for me to check in with them.”
Klinger said he called each of his former players just to check in on them in case they were impacted by Hamlin’s collapse.
In the meantime, Leonard said they’ve introduced legislation in Lansing that, if passed, will require the state to provide AEDs for all schools, should unexpected, life-threatening situations arise.
“He would want us to continue to fight for others so they don’t have to suffer what we went through,” Leonard said. “That’s what he would want. He would want us to be fighters.”
