Damar Hamlin gets OK to return to play for the Buffalo Bills after suffering cardiac arrest
The Bills player has been given the green light to return to the field which caps off an incredible path to this point after he went from near death to fully fit.
The very idea that Buffalo Bills safety is about to take to the field once again, far less just three months after collapsing on the field after suffering a cardiac arrest, is nothing short of remarkable. Needless to say, the entire league and its fans are in awe of his journey to this point
Bills’ Damar Hamlin set to return the field
According to reports, Bills safety Damar Hamlin has received the all-clear to return to football activities with his team once again. The sensational news comes just three months after Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for the team against the Cincinnati Bengals. It goes without saying, that this is an incredible turn-around just a short time after it was fair that Hamlin might not even survive, let alone play again.
“I’m thankful and blessed,” Hamlin said during a press conference Tuesday. “I’m blessed to have wonderful trainers here who treat me with the love and care as if I were their own children. ...This event was life-changing, but it’s not the end of my story. I’m here to announce that I plan on making a comeback to the NFL. The diagnosis of what happened to me was basically Commotio Cordis. It’s a direct blow at a specific point in your heartbeat that causes cardiac arrest, and five to seconds later you fall out. That’s what everyone has seen back on January 2nd of this year. Commotio Cordis is the leading cause of athletes across all youth sports, so that’s something I will be taking a step in to make a change. The awareness around CPR and the access to AEDs have been lowering that number as well.”
What is Commotio Cordis?
According to the American Heart Association, Commotio Cordis is “an extremely rare, serious medical condition that can happen after a sudden, blunt impact to the chest. If the physical blow hits during a narrow window in the heart rhythm, it can disrupt the heartbeat and cause sudden cardiac arrest.” Thankfully, Hamlin now has a clean bill of health, meaning the 25-year-old will be back on the field soon enough.
Bills general manager, Brandon Beane, was of course happy to make the surprise announcement on Tuesday. According to the exec, Hamlin was cleared by three separate specialists, all of whom agreed that he was no longer at risk of suffering any heart-related issue. “They’re all in agreement, it’s not two-to-one or three-to-one or anything like that, they’re all in lockstep of what this was and that he is cleared to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury,” Beane said. “He’s fully cleared. He’s here, and he is of the mindset, he’s in a great headspace, to come back and make his return.”
A recap of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest
If you missed the scary moment, it was back in Week 17 of this most recent season during a game between the Bills and the Bengals. Toward the end of the first quarter, Hamilin took a heavy hit to the chest after going in for a tackle. Immediately after he stood up and appeared to be completely fine, however, seconds later he collapsed on the field at which point alarm bells were raised. To be clear, were it not for the quick actions of medical staff, Hamlin who had to be revived with CPR twice on-field would likely not have survived.
Indeed, Bills assistant athletic trainer, Denny Kellington has largely been acknowledged as the person who saved Hamlin’s life by reviving him on the field. Hamlin was then taken to a Cincinnati hospital where he then spent the next nine days in recovery. After being released and returning to Buffalo, he finally made his first public appearance on January 22nd during his team’s home playoff game against the Bengals once again. Ultimately, Hamlin’s return is great news for the team, he himself and of course the league itself.