Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin gained consciousness in a Cincinnati hospital on Thursday after going into cardiac arrest during Monday night’s NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 24-year-old athlete is mobile as he is moving his hands and feet, and shows “remarkable improvement”, according to Buffalo Bills statement made Thursday morning.
"Per the physicians caring for Damar Hamlin at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Damar has shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours," the Bills said. "While still critically ill, he has demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact. His lungs continue to heal and he is making steady progress."
Hamlin’s heart stopped beating after being tackled by the Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during the game. His televised collapse gained a massive amount of support from concerned fans and teammates as they expressed their sympathy on the field and online.
"Our boy is doing better, awake and showing more signs of improvement," wrote Kaiir Elam, Hamlin’s teammate and cornerback for the Buffalo Bills. "Thank you God. Keep the prayers coming please. All love 3!", he said via Twitter.
Both competing teams, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals were brought to tears and worried as they witnessed Hamlin being resuscitated through CPR and removed off the field by first responders.
Nearly a week after Hamlin’s accident and awakening, he was transferred from University of Cincinnati Medical Center to Buffalo General Medical Center on Monday morning for ongoing care. His doctors announced that he “no longer needed intensive nursing care or intensive respiratory therapy.”
When the recovering safety player came to, he communicated in writing to his family by his bedside and his first question was, “Did we win?”, stated his doctors.
"The answer is yes, Damar, you won,” said Dr. Timothy Pritts during a conference call from the Cincinnati hospital. “You've won the game of life.”
Hamlin expressed his gratitude on Jan. 9 via Twitter for all the worldwide sympathy he received, stating, “Watching the world come around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling. The same love that you all have shown me is the same love that I plan to put back into the world and more.”
On Sunday, Hamlin kept his word of showing love by announcing via Twitter that he will raise money for first responders and the University of Cincinnati’s Trauma Center. In the tweet, Hamlin included a link where fans can choose from three different colored shirts which display the unexpected question that he first asked out of his medically induced coma, “Did We Win?”
Amid Hamlin’s emergency, his foundation, The Chasing M Charitable Fund has received over 8.6 million dollars in about a week from many supportive fans, reported the Buffalo Bills. Hamlin created the foundation in 2020 where he launched a toy drive for his community while he attended the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Pritts described Hamlin’s recovery as “a very normal to even accelerated” approach, which means Hamlin is healing quicker than the doctors expected. He will continue to receive therapy from specialists and undergo evaluations to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest. As for Hamlin's future of returning to the football field, doctors declined to answer. That is for the Buffalo doctors to determine now that he is in their care.
Dr. Pritts said it is still “fairly premature” to comment on that.
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