Bills GM: Damar Hamlin medically cleared to resume playing

By WNYT
FILE - Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin reacts after a play during the first half of the team's NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 9, 2022, in Orchard Park, Hamlin has been cleared to resume playing and is attending the team’s voluntary workout program some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati, general manager Brandon Beane said Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex, File)

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been cleared to resume playing and is attending the team’s voluntary workout program some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati, general manager Brandon Beane said Tuesday.

“He is fully cleared to resume activity,” Beane said, with the clearance coming from the team after the player met with a third and final specialist on Friday.

Beane said all three specialists were in agreement that Hamlin can resume playing without any fear of setbacks or complications. While the Bills had their own doctor sit in on Hamlin’s meetings with specialists, Beane said the team is following the lead of the specialists.

Hamlin has experienced what doctors are calling a remarkable recovery since collapsing on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle in the first quarter of a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals, which was suspended and eventually canceled.

The second-year player from Pittsburgh’s exurb of McKee’s Rock spent nearly 10 days recovering in hospitals in Cincinnati and Buffalo before being released. He eventually began visiting the Bills’ facility and attended the team’s season-ending 27-10 loss to Cincinnati in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Hamlin has since made numerous appearances around the country, including meeting with President Joe Biden last month. During the Super Bowl festivities in Arizona in February, he received the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award. He also took part in a pregame ceremony in which the NFL honored the Bills’ and Bengals’ training and medical staffs and first responders who treated the 24-year-old.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL