Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin kicked off his CPR Tour in Buffalo on Saturday, an event that he announced will also feature a stop in Hamlin’s home city of Pittsburgh, according to Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com.
During yesterday’s event at Highmark Stadium, Hamlin donated 50 AEDs to Youth Football teams in the Buffalo area. The CPR Tour is the first program of Hamlin’s Chasing M’s Foundation.
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field during a January 2 matchup on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was saved on the field due to the use of CPR and now he’s looking to give kids the ability to have lifesaving care available at their games and practices.
If performed immediately, CPR significantly increases the chances of survival for someone who suffers a cardiac event, and the Chasing M’s Foundation is also educating people on CPR and how to use an AED. Over 1,000 people were in attendance at the event in Buffalo, and he’ll surely draw a crowd at the other tour stops, which in addition to Buffalo and Pittsburgh also includes Cincinnati, the city where he suffered his cardiac incident and where he was in the hospital.
Hamlin has been cleared to return to the football field and has been a limited participant in drills during the Bills’ OTA practices. His return to the field in 2023 will be one of the biggest stories of the year, and not just in the world of sports.
Hamlin has been a major advocate for AED access and CPR education. He met with President Joe Biden to support the Access to AEDs Act which helped schools obtain and have access to AEDs and also was in attendance for a CPR seminar hosted by the Carolina Panthers.
Now, Hamlin and those close to him can help bring CPR education to cities and youth programs across the country while also providing them AEDs. Hamlin was able to turn an extremely scary and life-threatening situation into a positive, as he’s now helping others attempt to save lives across the country just as his was.
