Damar Hamlin is Cleared to Make His Return to the NFL Following Cardiac Arrest
LOS ANGELES - JUL 12: Damar Hamlin arrives for the 2023 ESPY Awards on July 12, 2023 in Hollywood, CA
Credit: DFree via Shutterstock
By: Omar Cook
On January 2, the world watched in shock as Buffalo Bills safety, Damar Hamlin, collapsed on live tv during a Monday Night NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital in a scary situation.
3 months later, Hamlin is finally cleared to return to playing football. Bills general manager Brandon Beane relayed the news. “He’s fully cleared, he’s here, and he is of the mindset. He’s in a great head space to come back and make his return,” Beane said of Hamlin, according to ESPN. Hamlin has spent the past few months in physical therapy, working with doctors and has been attending a few team practices.
Damar Hamlin has been "fully cleared" to resume football activities, Bills GM Brandon Beane announced. pic.twitter.com/a2avQrl2UK
— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2023
“When he left Cincinnati, he came here, it was Buffalo General [Hospital]. He saw a couple of specialists here in Buffalo, and then, since then, he’s seen three additional specialists, most recently on Friday (April 14), and they’re all in agreement. It’s not 2-1 or 3-1 or anything like that. They’re all in lockstep of what this was and that he’s cleared, resumed full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury or whatever,” Beane stated.
On Tuesday, Hamlin gave his first news conference since the event happened and stated that doctors concluded it was a result of commotio cordis, "an extremely rare consequence of blunt force trauma to the heart that happens at exactly the wrong time in the heart rhythm, causing the heart to stop beating effective," per the American Heart Association, which caused him to suffer cardiac arrest on the field.
"My heart is still in the game. I love the game. It is something I want to prove to myself, not nobody else," Hamlin said. "I just wanna show people that that fear is a choice that you can keep going in something without having the answers and without knowing what's at the end of the tunnel. Or you might feel anxious, you might feel any type of way, but you just keep putting that right foot in front of the left one, and you keep going. I want to stand for that."
Many people after witnessing the event believed that that would be Hamlin’s last time playing in an NFL game after such a traumatic experience but Hamlin is determined to keep going.
"Being around my teammates, the camaraderie of the sport of football, you know, that's what makes this sport the best in the world, is the brotherhood that it creates, the unity that it creates between all people of all aspects of life and just different journeys, it brings them together for one common goal," Hamlin said. "And I feel like that's a direct correlation of what happened to me that night, you know, just bringing people together in prayer, love, but that's what this sport does as well, so my heart is in it completely and it takes a lot to be great in this game, and I got a long way to go. I got a long journey to go, but I'm committed to it each day, day in, day out."
We wish nothing but the best for Hamlin as the 25 year old safety looks to make his NFL return in what will be inspiring for millions of people to see.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
