The medical professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center played a monumental role in saving Damar Hamlin’s life after his in-game collapse in Week 17 of the 2022 NFL season. The Buffalo Bills safety had his cardiac rhythm disrupted, which could be fatal if not treated within three minutes. He’s always shown his gratefulness for the people who saved his life, and now he’s paying it forward.
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After getting a second lease on life, Hamlin is sponsoring ten scholarships, dubbed the ‘Cincinnati Heroes Scholarship’ to deserving students in ‘The Queen City.’ As per FOX 19, the students will receive a yearly $1,000 stipend over the next three years for their education through Hamlin’s Chasing M Foundation.
Hamlin’s gratitude to Cincinnati’s medical practitioners extends to students who will attend school in the Greater Cincinnati area. The safety knows the importance of a scholarship as he himself benefited from financial help during his high school and college education.
The Bills safety stayed at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center from January 2 to 9, 2023. After being discharged, he continued his recovery at Buffalo’s General Medical Center. Meanwhile, he emotionally presented the Bills’ training staff with the Pat Tillman Service Award during the 2023 ESPYs for serving as first responders after Hamlin lay motionless on the field.
Five of the ten scholars are from Cincinnati, while three are from other cities in Ohio (Defiance, Hamilton, Loveland). The other two are from Florence, Kentucky, and Clinton, Pennsylvania. Ella Vollmer, one of Hamlin’s inaugural scholarship recipients, expressed her gratitude for this blessing.
One of Damar Hamlin’s Recipients Is Grateful for the Scholarship
Vollmer graduated from Seton High School and will pursue primary education at Miami University. She expressed her gratitude for Hamlin’s scholarship as she said,
“Him helping us out just because we are from Cincinnati and putting his money towards our education shows about a lot of who he is and I’ll be forever grateful for that for choosing me.”
A video by FOX 19 News revealed that Hamlin and his foundation will have another round of scholarship applications next year.
In addition to the $1,000 scholarship, which the students can use for tuition, housing, or books, Damar Hamlin has also organized a toy drive through Chasing M. While the GoFundMe page for that project had a $2,500, donations reached $8.7 million days after Hamlin’s life-threatening situation.
Hamlin also addressed legislators on Capitol Hill in February 2023 to introduce the ‘Access to AED Act,’ which aims to increase the availability of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) and their trained operators on school campuses.
