Explore More
Damar Hamlin’s recovery took its next step Monday, as the Bills safety was released from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and transferred to a Buffalo hospital, doctors announced.
Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field one week ago, landed safely in Buffalo and was monitored and observed following the flight.
“This is the beginning of the next stage of his recovery,” Dr. William Knight, director of emergency medicine, said in a news conference.
Hamlin traveled to the airport with the UC Health Air Care & Mobile Care on Monday. Prior to that, while still in the hospital’s intensive care unit, Hamlin met “a number of key milestones” that made doctors feel comfortable with sending him back to Buffalo, Knight said.
He gradually awoke from his medically induced sedation Wednesday night. His breathing tube was removed. He walked his first lap around the unit Friday, and he continued assisted walks — as well as physical and occupational therapy — throughout the weekend.
Dr. Timothy Pritts, division chief of general surgery, called it a “very normal-to-accelerated” trajectory for his recovery, reiterating that Hamlin is “neurologically completely intact” with “no reason to believe” this recovery path won’t continue.
Still, when asked how close Hamlin is to returning to a normal life, Pritts said “it’s too premature to speculate.”
“He still has a little bit of a ways to go in terms of his ongoing recovery,” Knight said. “We’re thrilled to see where he is today. He’s up. He’s walking around. He’s got an amazing, genuine sense of humor, and his family is amazing and we’re happy he’s with them.”
Hamlin’s recovery has injected hope into the NFL community, including his Bills teammates and coaches. They won their game against the Patriots on Sunday as Hamlin tweeted out reactions from his hospital room. Then, 24 hours later, head coach Sean McDermott — along with general manager Brandon Beane, head athletic trainer Nate Breske and assistant athletic trainer Tabani Richards — saw Hamlin in-person for the first time since he returned to Buffalo.
“He’s doing well,” McDermott said. “A little bit tired, but it was good to see him in-person for the first time in a while.”
Hamlin watched Sunday’s game from his hospital room, doctors said, and when Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, he jumped up and down — getting out of his chair and setting “every alarm off in the ICU in the process,” Pritts said.
Previous1 of 3
NextAdvertisement
Advertisement
“He was fine,” Pritts added. “It was just an appropriate reaction to a very exciting play.”
Hamlin feels “beyond excited” and “very supported” by the outpouring of support across the league, Pritts said. In the week since he collapsed, Hamlin’s toy fundraiser has generated over $8.6 million in donations. Across the league, teams offered tributes — on signs, clothing items and stadium fields, often involving Hamlin’s name or No. 3 — and moments of silence or prayer before games.
Previous1 of 6
NextAdvertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
When Hamlin awoke from his sedation, the first question he wrote for doctors on paper asked who won the game between the Bengals and Bills. At the time, doctors responded that Hamlin had won the “game of life.”
Just one week later, Hamlin’s answer to his own question, Pritts said, is that “we all won out of this.”
“He’s won as a patient,” Pritts said. “Hopefully, everybody will go out and get trained in CPR, so that you, too, can save a life someday.
“And out of all that, everybody can win. So we really agree with his sentiment that we all won from this.”
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j2pmaXFfma6urdFmn5qlnJ67bsDRmqWsnpWnv6awjK2mZpqlm7OiuM5mn6iroJ7BoriMsJyeo12Ws7Wx0WaaqKSclr20sY4%3D