Roughly four months after nearly dying during a Monday Night Football game, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been given the OK to return to playing football, the team’s general manager Brandon Beane said Tuesday.
Per the Associated Press (via Yahoo), Beane said Hamlin is “fully cleared to resume activity” after having met with three specialists, and that he is taking part in the team’s off-season voluntary workout program.
Hamlin, then 24, was playing in a nationally televised Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game on Jan. 2 when he was involved in a hit that caused him to go into cardiac arrest. Emergency medical personnel administered CPR to Hamlin, reviving him before he was transported to a hospital. He went on to spend 10 days in facilities in Cincinnati and then Buffalo before being released.
After Hamlin was removed from the field, the game was set to resume but soon was temporarily suspended. Players on both teams appeared shocked, some in tears, as they returned to their locker rooms. The game eventually was officially suspended.
On Jan. 7, Hamlin put out his first public statement since the incident. “When you put real love out into the world it comes back to you 3xs as much,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “The love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out… If you know me, you know this is only going to make me stronger. On a long road keep praying for me! #3strong”
