Damar Hamlin cleared to resume football activities after January cardiac arrest

Damar Hamlin speaks onstage at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on March 27.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images/FIle

CNN
 — 

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been cleared to resume football activities, the team’s general manager said on Tuesday.

Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle during the first quarter of the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2.

The 25-year-old has been at Buffalo’s practice facility participating in voluntary offseason workouts this week, according to the team.

“He is fully cleared,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane told reporters. “He’s here.”

Beane said that Hamlin had seen three separate specialists over the offseason, who all agreed that the player “is clear to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury.”

“(Hamlin’s) in a great headspace to come back and make his return,” Beane added.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott said the team is happy that Hamlin is back.

“We’re super excited for Damar. He’s moving forward one step at a time here. He’s been cleared from a physical standpoint,” McDermott said.

“We’ll provide all of the mental help we can from a mind, body and spirit standpoint so just happy for him that he’s been able to check some of those boxes to this point and we’re moving forward taking it one day at a time.”

Cardiac arrests result from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating the way it should.

“When you have a situation like this, someone has a cardiac arrest, you have to figure out: was there some sort of underlying abnormality to the heart?” CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said on Tuesday.

“If the answer is no,” Gupta added, “then you’re basically left with this being a rare occurrence, but right now there’s nothing to suggest that [Hamlin’s] likelihood of having this happen again is any higher than the general population.”