Damar Hamlin reveals 10 winners of Cincinnati scholarships, in honor of UC medical staff

Ten students will receive the 2024 Cincinnati Heroes Scholarship from Damar Hamlin's Chasing M's Foundation.

The program, which will award $1,000 scholarships to 10 students each year for the next three years, is in honor of the 10 medical personnel who helped save the Buffalo Bills safety's life. Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field in 2023 while playing the Bengals at Paycor Stadium.

"I want to give a big tremendous acknowledgement and credit to my care team," Hamlin told The Enquirer on Monday. "They're the reason why I am able to stand tall today and continue on my mission of life on the field and off the field. Their care for me was unmatched ... and they would've done what they did for me for anybody."

Scholarships go to students who hope to attend Greater Cincinnati-area private high schools, trade schools or universities.

"I've been able to be fortunate enough to have a scholarship through high school and then all through college," he said. "It's able to uplift the burden off of people. To be able to keep your mind focused on what is important, and what's important is being able to chase your dreams and what you want to become."

The recipients include:

• Aubreyana Chase (Cincinnati).
• Sydney Gardner (Clinton, Pennsylvania).
• Rachel Panko (Florence, Kentucky).
• Brady Burns (Loveland).
• Victoria Gerencser (Defiance, Ohio).
• Vicmelly Darett Candelario Mata (Hamilton).
• Josie Hawk (Cincinnati).
• Jane Overbey (Cincinnati).
• Morgan Lubbers (Cincinnati).
• Ella Vollmer (Cincinnati).

"It's handpicked to people that are hard workers, people who care about their community, people that want to give back to their communities," Hamlin said.

In November, Hamlin had dinner with the the 10 medical professionals who saved his life, where he told them about the scholarships started in their honor.

"It's new family," Hamlin said. "Like when you go to a family reunion and you meet cousins or uncles that you never knew you had, it's literally that same feeling. So we're connected in a way that's bigger than life, that's deeper than life through a moment that the world was able to be a part of."

"They're a special group of people and I'll forever be trying to find ways to repay them."

Ohio will soon require schools, rec centers to have AEDs

An automated external defibrillator helped save Hamlin's life after his collapse in 2023. Now, Ohio will soon require public schools, charter schools and most public recreation centers to have AEDs on-site in case an athlete or spectator has a sudden cardiac arrest. An AED delivers an electrical shock to help the heart return to its regular rhythm.

"I'm ecstatic about it, that's pretty much all the work I've been doing for the last year and a half," said Hamlin, who has lobbied for AED access on Capitol Hill and provided AEDs to various organizations throughout the country. "It's a new passion of ours, it's a new lifelong mission. We'll be leading the charge through my Chasing M's Foundation of trying to get all 50 states to pass the same bill that is on the desk of the Ohio decision makers."

House Bill 47 is headed to Gov. Mike DeWine's desk after a unanimous vote in the Ohio Senate. The House approved it with minor changes.