Featured Image Credit: Associated Press / Alamy. Kirby Lee / Alamy.
Topics: NFL, American Football, US Sports
Jayden Collins
Topics: NFL, American Football, US Sports
NFL star Damar Hamlin has been fully cleared to return to football just over three months since suffering an on-field cardiac arrest.
Back in January, the player collapsed after a tackle involving Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.
The player got up off the ground before dramatically crashing down as CPR was administered on the field before he was stretchered off and taken to hospital.
It was a haunting time for Hamlin and his Bills teammates but over the weeks proceeding he began to recover at a miraculous rate.
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The 25-year-old announced the news in a press conference and went into his diagnosis which he revealed to be Commotio Cordis.
He said, via CBS: “I'm thankful and blessed.
"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.
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“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 (death for) 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."
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According to Cleveland Clinic, Commotio Cordis occurs when an abnormal heart rhythm and cardiac arrest occur right after getting hit in the chest.
It is often the result of a strong object such as a baseball, hockey puck, or in this case, a big wide receiver directly hitting the left side of a person’s chest.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane confirmed that three separate specialists had agreed that it would be safe for Hamlin to return to the sport.
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He said: “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.
"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."
The best chance of survival from Commotio Cordis is to be treated immediately with CPR, which Bills' assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington did.
Kellington has been credited with essentially saving the young player’s life while reviving him on the field.
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The 2023 NFL season is set to kick off in September, leaving Hamlin five months to get back into game shape for the Buffalo side.