Damar Hamlin awake and responsive
The team said in a statement Thursday morning that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is showing “remarkable improvement” over the past 24 hours, although he remains “critically ill” in a Cincinnati ICU nearly three days after suffering a harrowing cardiac arrest on the field that sent shockwaves through the NFL.
“Hamlin continues to make steady progress as his lungs heal and, as demonstrated by his appearance, he appears to be neurologically intact,” the Bills team Twitter account posted on Thursday.
According to his teammate Kaiir Elam, Hamlin is “doing better, awake and showing more signs of improvement” as of Thursday morning.
“I know he could hear me,” said Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II of visiting former high school teammate Hamlin at the hospital, adding that he believes Hamlin “will walk out of that room.”
Hamlin may have suffered commotio cordis—which is caused by a sudden impact to the chest wall and can induce life-threatening cardiac arrest or arrhythmia—on the field during the Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday after making a routine tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin made the tackle, but quickly collapsed onto the field. Medical personnel from both teams used a defibrillator to restore his pulse. He was resuscitated shortly after on the field and then taken to a local ICU.
After Hamlin collapsed on the field, the NFL stopped play and has not yet decided if the game will be resumed. The game was in the first quarter when play was stopped. One day after the game, the NFL Players Association issued a statement saying, “the only thing that matters at this moment is Damar’s health and well being,” while the NFL announced the game would not be made up this week, and that there is no decision on whether it will be resumed at a later date. Although NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent is reportedly considering moving that game, the Bills are scheduled to play the New England Patriots at home on Sunday, the last week of the regular season.
