His First Time! Damar Hamlin Speaks Publicly and Give Thanks for Surviving On-field Cardiac Arrest | WATCH

Yes! Damar Hamlin Moves from Cincinnati hospital to Buffalo – Tweets His Thanks

Damar Hamlin – Twitter screenshot

A lot of folks, for some reason, didn’t believe Damar Hamlin was still alive even after he was seen at the Bills-Bengals playoff game last weekend. It seems that for some folks because the incapacitated NFLer was all covered up from head to toe and couldn’t be seen clearly through the windows in the luxury booth he was a guest in, they didn’t want to believe he was literally still with the living. Or at least not hospitalized.

Well, all that changed as of tonight (01-28-23) because Damar Hamlin is giving out thanks. And he’s doing it via social media where you CLEARLY SEE and HEAR him.

That’s right. This is the first time Hamlin has spoken publicly since he went into cardiac arrest when the Buffalo Bills played the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2.

The Bills safety thanked the people who supported him on Saturday in a heartwarming video posted by Buffalo’s Twitter account.

“I think it was important for me to wait and speak publicly at the right time as there was a lot to process within my own self,” the 24-year-old said at the start of the video. “I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of all the love and support and everything that’s just been coming my way. What happened to me on “Monday Night Football: I feel is a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with the entire world.”

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Damar Hamlin’s Breathing Tube is Out – He Told Team ‘Love You Boys’ | VIDEO

Damar Hamlin & family at hospital (From Damar Hamlin-Twitter)

Damar Hamlin was released from the hospital on Monday, a week after the Buffalo Bills safety’s heart stopped and he had to be resuscitated on the field during an NFL game, Dr. William A. Knight said Monday during a video news conference.

Knight said he went with Hamlin to the airport, where he took a flight to Buffalo. Hamlin is in a hospital there, the doctor from the UC Medical Center in Cincinnati said.

“He is doing well and this is the beginning of the next stage of his recovery,” Knight said. “It is entirely too premature to discuss, not only his football; it’s that we’re really focused on his day-to-day recovery.”

Knight said Hamlin met “a number of key milestones” in his recovery, noting the NFL player was up and walking, doing physical and occupational therapy.

“Grateful for the awesome care I received at UCMC. Happy to be back in Buffalo. The docs and nurses at Buffalo General have already made me feel at home!” Hamlin tweeted Monday afternoon.

Damar Hamlin fan (Adrian Kraus-AP)

In another tweet, he thanked the public for their support.

“Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling,” he wrote. “The same love you all have shown me is the same love that I plan to put back into the world n more. Bigger than football!”

Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on a Zoom call with reporters that he was “super excited” to have Hamlin back in town.

He said he and some members of the Bills’ organization went to see Hamlin at the hospital in Buffalo.

“He’s doing well,” he said. “He’s just tired but he seems happy and happy to be back in Buffalo.”

On January 2, Hamlin, a 24-year-old defensive player in his second NFL season, suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

His UC doctors said Monday it’s still too early to know what caused Hamlin’s cardiac arrest and expect he will undergo more tests to determine what happened.

The Bills player on Sunday posted a photo of himself on social media that shows him sitting up in his hospital bed and making a heart sign with his hands while wearing a number 3 hat and a “Love for Damar” shirt.

Hamlin tweeted more than a dozen times reacting to the Bills 35-22 win over the New England Patriots Sunday, and expressed his desire  exto be out on the field with his teammates.

Damar Hamlin in game (Scott Winters-Icon Sportswire-Getty Images)

Medical staff and assistant athletic trainer honored at NFL games

Before Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Bengals, the medical staff who rushed to Hamlin’s aid were honored at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium — the same field where Hamlin suffered the cardiac arrest.
At New York’s Highmark Stadium, Buffalo Bills wide receiver John Brown gave a game ball to assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington, the man credited with saving Hamlin’s life by administering critical CPR to the football player — who doctors say lost his pulse on the field had to be immediately revived through resuscitation and defibrillation.
The immediate response of Kellington and other medical personnel was vital to “not just saving his life, but his neurological function,” Dr. Timothy Pritts, one of Hamlin’s doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, has said.
Hamlin was sedated after being taken to the hospital. Doctors announcedThursday that he had started to awaken and he appears neurologically intact, while still critically ill and on a ventilator.

upon awakening, according to Pritts, who said he scribbled the question on a clipboard.
On Friday, the Bills said Hamlin’s breathing tube was removed overnight and he had spoken to his teammates via video.
Following the victory over the Patriots on Sunday, Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White said Hamlin texted members of the team prior to Sunday’s game, saying, “I’m thinking about y’all, I’m sorry that I did that to y’all.”
“For him to check on us when he is the person that’s going through what he’s going through — that just shows what type of person he is.”
White said incident Monday’s incident still haunts the six-year NFL veteran.

“To see everything transpire, from the hit, to him getting up, to him falling, to everything — it’s just something that I can’t … unsee. Every time I close my eyes it replays. I tried watching tv and every time the tv goes to commercial, that’s the only thing that comes to my mind,” White said.

Hear audio of medical personnel treating Damar Hamlin after he collapsed

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NFLer Damar Hamlin Shows ‘Signs of Improvement’ – Still in ICU in Critical Condition | WATCH IS UNCLE INTERVIEW

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin‘s breathing tube was removed overnight and he’s spoken to his teammates via video, the Bills said Friday morning, four days after the 24-year-old’s in-game cardiac arrest stunned millions who watched the emergency play out live.

“Love you boys,” Hamlin, still in a Cincinnati hospital, told his New York-based team Friday via FaceTime, the Bills said on Twitter. When Hamlin appeared on the screen, his teammates “stood up right away and clapped for him” and yelled some things to him, head coach Sean McDermott told reporters.

Hamlin “continues to progress remarkably in his recovery,” his “neurologic function remains intact and he has been able to talk to his family and care team,” the Bills tweeted Friday morning, citing his physicians. Still, his medical team has cautioned that many phases of Hamlin’s recovery lay ahead.

Friday’s news comes a day after physicians announced Hamlin, who’d been sedated, was awake and had made “substantial improvement” — information that was met with messages of joy and relief from across the NFL and beyond.

When physicians announced Thursday that Hamlin was awake, they said his next big milestone would be breathing on his own without a ventilator.

Hamlin collapsed Monday during the first quarter of the Bills’ game against the host Cincinnati Bengals. He was rushed from the field in an ambulance, stunning a packed stadium — with players left crying and embracing — and prompting on outpouring of support from strangers across the nation, including from those who watched the medical emergency on live TV.

Hamlin on Thursday had been communicating only nonverbally because he still was intubated. Upon awakening, his mind was still on the game as he scribbled his first question on a clipboard: “Did we win?” a doctor said.

“So, we know that it’s not only that the lights are on, we know that he’s home. And that it appears all cylinders are firing within his brain,” Dr. Timothy Pritts, vice chair for clinical operations at University of Cincinnati Health where Hamlin is being treated, told reporters Thursday.

Hamlin still was critically ill Thursday, said the physicians, who did not say precisely when he started waking up.
Tests are underway to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest, a physician saidThursday. Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating properly, and death can occur quickly if help isn’t rendered immediately; it is not the same as a heart attack or heart failure.

The NFL announced Thursday the Bills-Bengals game — which was initially postponed Monday night — will not be resumed or made up. The league’s players, many shaken by Hamlin’s collapse, now are preparing for an emotional return to competition to play their final games of the regular season Saturday and Sunday.
That includes on Sunday the Bills hosting the New England Patriots and the Bengals hosting the Baltimore Ravens.

The league Friday announced plans to honor Hamlin at all 16 of this weekend’s contests, including by asking crowds to cheer in a “moment of support” before the national anthem for Hamlin and medical caregivers.
Players during warmups will have an option to wear T-shirts displaying “Love for Damar 3,” a nod to Hamiln’s jersey number. Bills players will wear patches with Hamlin’s number.

Both the Bills and the Bengals already have clinched playoff berths. While nullifying Monday’s game will have no effect on which teams qualify for the playoffs, it could alter seeding and where certain playoff games would be played — and the NFL on Friday is expected to finalize adjustments to address that.

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Damar Hamlin: NFL game suspended after player collapses on field {VIDEO}

“He is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him,” the Bills said.

Hamlin, 24, had still been sedated on a ventilator as doctors worked toward getting him to breathe on his own, his uncle Dorrian Glenn told CNN on Tuesday, after Hamlin’s collapse on the field the prior night halted the Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals, stunning a packed stadium that only moments earlier had been rippling with excitement ahead of Hamlin’s tackle of a Bengals wide receiver.

Hamlin’s heartbeat was restored on the field as staff tended to him, the Bills have said, before he was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was still being treated Wednesday. Hamlin was resuscitated only once, a family spokesman clarified Wednesday, not twice, as his uncle told CNN on Tuesday.

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BILLS SAFETY DAMAR HAMLIN COLLAPSES ON FIELD ... Officials Administer Emergency CPR

His team, the Buffalo Bills later confirmed the cardiac arrest in a statement and added that his heartbeat was restored on the field.

The emergency sparked an outpouring of well-wishes for Hamlin and brought attention back to the dangerous nature of America's most popular sport as the NFL season approaches its climactic play-off stages.

Hamlin was tackling the Bengals' receiver Tee Higgins in the stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, when Higgins' helmet appeared to hit Hamlin in the chest. After initially getting to his feet, he fell on his back.

Players from both teams gathered around Hamlin as emergency medical staff gave CPR and oxygen. Several were seen visibly distressed, with many kneeling to pray and some in tears.

Television coverage repeatedly broke away from the scene on the field, while the crowd in Cincinnati remained silent during the ordeal.

Jordon Rooney, Hamlin's representative, wrote on Twitter: "His vitals are back to normal and they have put him to sleep to put a breathing tube down his throat. They are currently running tests. We will provide updates as we have them."

NFL games are rarely suspended because of injury. Commentators said the fact that gameplay had stalled was a sign of the shocking and severe nature of the emergency.

The two teams are among the top Super Bowl contenders this year, with their head-to-head coming in the primetime Monday night slot in the penultimate week of the NFL's regular season.

The league's players' association wrote in a statement: "We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players and with the NFL. The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar's health and well-being."

Buffalo Bills players kneel to pray as the ambulance carrying teammate Hamlin leaves the field

The game was suspended in the first quarter

Hamlin, a native of McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, was a standout at the University of Pittsburgh before being drafted by the Bills in the 2021 NFL draft.

Playing in the role of safety, he served as a reserve for much of last year, but has been a part of the Bills' starting line-up in 2022.

He has also drawn praise for hosting annual Christmas toy drives in his hometown since before he was a paid athlete.

An online GoFundMe page for the toy drive was reshared after Hamlin collapsed on Monday and has raised nearly $3m (£2.5m).

Buildings across Cincinnati were lit up in blue on Monday evening, including Paycor Stadium where the incident occurred.

Well-wishes have also poured in from many corners.

Basketball star LeBron James said: "It was a terrible thing to see and I wish nothing but the best for that kid. I am a huge fan of the NFL and football and you never want to see anything like that happen."

"The safety of players in all sports is always the most important," he added.

Arizona Cardinals defensive end JJ Watt wrote on Twitter: "Please be ok man. Please be ok", while retired Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark told ESPN's SportsCenter show: "This isn't about a football player, this is about a human."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said: "Praying for Damar Hamlin. Our hearts are with his family, loved ones and the entire Buffalo Bills community."

Bruce Sharpe, a Bills fan who was in the stadium when it happened, said it was "devastating".

"Everything got dead silent. Even the Bengals fans, you know, you don't want to see anything like that," he said. "We're just praying that everything's okay."

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7:08 PM PT -- The NFL says Damar Hamlin is currently in critical condition at a nearby hospital.

7:02 PM PT -- The league has announced the Bills vs. Bengals game will not continue on Monday night following Hamlin's injury. A makeup date and time have yet to be revealed.

Horrifying moment during the Bills vs. Bengals game on "Monday Night Football" -- Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed at the end of a play ... and required CPR in the middle of the field.

The incident happened just minutes into the game's first quarter ... right after Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins to the ground.

BILLS EMOTIONAL AFTER HAMLIN COLLAPSE

He was eventually strapped to a backboard and loaded onto a stretcher. He was then taken off the field in an ambulance.