The 25-year-old Buffalo Bills safety also reveals his diagnosis during a press conference, saying he collapsed after his heart stopped due to commotio cordis.
- Apr 20, 2023
AceShowbiz - Damar Hamlin is returning to football. More than three months after he collapsed on the field, the Buffalo Bills safety is now cleared to play again.
"My heart is still in the game. I love the game. It is something I want to prove to myself, not nobody else," the 25-year-old 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," the athlete added. "I want to stand for that."
During a press conference on Tuesday, April 18, Damar also divulged that he collapsed after his heart stopped due to commotio cordis. According to the American Heart Association, it is "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 effectively."
Damar collapsed in the first quarter of the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. After tackling Tee Higgins, he got up from the ground and took a few steps back, but he suddenly fell down onto the Paycor Stadium turf. He received PCR on the field for several minutes before being taken off the field in an ambulance.
After recovery, Damar thanked everyone who has supported and prayed for him. "I can't tell you how appreciative I am of all the love, all the support and everything that's just been coming in my way," he said on January 28. "What happened to me on 'Monday Night Football' I feel is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world."
