NFL
Hamlin returns to training after a heart attack
Buffalo Bills NFL star Damar Hamlin has returned to training without any restrictions, nearly seven months after suffering cardiac arrest during a game.
During a game against the Bengals in Cincinnati on January 2, Hamlin experienced a heart attack. He was saved thanks to the prompt actions of doctors who performed CPR on the field. He was immediately taken to a local hospital and later transferred to a hospital in Buffalo, where he made a remarkable recovery.
After seven months, doctors gave Hamlin the green light to return to American football and practice without limitations.
“I made the choice to play. I’m processing a thousand emotions. I’m not afraid to say that it crosses my mind of being a little scared here and there. Like I say, my strength is rooted in my faith, and my faith is stronger than any fear. That’s what I want to preach up here, and that’s the message I want to spread on to the world. As long as your faith is stronger than your fear, you can get through anything. That’s what I’m living by right now.”
“I made a decision,” Hamlin told reporters following his first practice on this season’s Bills training camp. “My family, my mom and my dad, they were behind me either way I wanted to go, playing or not. But if this is the decision we’re gonna make, we’re gonna go with it and keep going. So I made my decision. I’m living with it.”
His parents and brother supported him at the first practice, and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane also arrived and gave his opinion on Hamlin playing again.
“It’s great. Gave Damar a big hug this morning,... The mental toughness that this young man’s been through from almost losing his life to now he’s back playing in Day 1 of pads.”
The new NFL season starts on September 7, and the Super Bowl is on February 11 next year in Nevada.