Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center revealed Thursday that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin made significant progress after he collapsed during Monday night’s game and said he asked about who won.
The doctors said Hamlin cannot speak and has been communicating with the medical team by pen and paper, and also through head movement. They stressed that the Bills player still remains in critical condition.
“He continues to be critically ill. He continues to undergo intensive care in our surgical and trauma ICU,” Pritts said. “He’s being cared for by ICU neuro-critical care teams, trauma surgery, and a cardiology team, as well as our expert nurses and respiratory therapists. They are attending to him, and he still has significant progress that he needs to make. But this marks a really good turning point in his ongoing care.”
According to health agencies, cardiac arrest outside of hospitals are often fatal events. And those who survive are often left with brain injuries and neurological impairment.
In order for him to be upgraded to stable from critical, Pritts said doctors will have to be able to remove Hamlin’s breathing tube. He will also have to display more respiratory and neurological improvement.
“We had significant concern about him after the injury and after the event that happened on the field, but he is making substantial progress,” Pritts said. “As of this morning, he is beginning to awaken, and it appears that his neurological condition and function is intact.”
Best-Case Scenario?
Also Thursday, Pritts said they’ve been able to discuss with Hamlin what happened on Monday night. In a pivotal game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins before getting back up and adjusted his helmet before dropping to the field, triggering an on-field medical response that lasted about 15 minutes and involved CPR.“He’s not quite at the point where we can have a conversation because, again, he still has a breathing tube in and is able to communicate [with a yes or no] by shaking his head, nodding his head or with brief notes,” the doctor said. “[The player] expressed surprise that he had been not with the world for two days, and we talked to him about all the support that has been given from Cincinnati, Buffalo, and really across the country for him and his family during this time.”
“It’s been a long and difficult road the last three days,” Knight said. “He has been very sick and has made a fairly remarkable recovery and improvement to the point that, as [Pritts] noted, [Hamlin] is now demonstrating that sign of good neurologic recovery, as well as overall clinical improvement as has been previously reported related to not just his vital signs, but his other individual organ recovery.”
Knight also laid out the best-case scenario. Doctors, he said, want to get Hamlin’s condition “back to who he was before this all happened” before he collapsed on Monday night.
The NFL earlier this week said the game was postponed and did not say when it would resume, or if it would resume. The regular season ends on Sunday, and the playoffs officially start on Jan. 14.
Both the Bills and Bengals, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, are vying for top playoff spots in the AFC. The Bills are slated to host the New England Patriots, while the Bengals will host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
