CNN
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[Breaking news update, published at 11 a.m. ET]
Buffalo Bills player Tamar Hamlin The 24-year-old’s agent, Rob Butler, told CNN Thursday that he is awake and holding hands with family at the hospital following Monday’s in-game heart attack.
Hamlin “Significant progress,” his team said Thursday morning.
“According to the doctors caring for Tamar Hamlin at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Tamar has shown significant improvement in the past 24 hours. Bills tweeted. “While still critically ill, he appears to be neurologically intact. His lungs continue to heal and he is making steady progress.
“We are grateful for the love and support we have received.”
“Damar has made significant progress overnight,” added Agency 1 Sports, representing the Bills’ safety. In its own tweet.
[Original story, published at 10:29 a.m. ET]
Tamar Hamlin as Buffalo Bills player is in critical condition After A heart attack occurs during sportsHamlin will recover, says his childhood friend and fellow NFL player “there’s no doubt in my mind.”
Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II went straight to a Cincinnati hospital where his 24-year-old friend was unconscious after Hamlin collapsed on the field during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I knew he could hear me,” Thomas told reporters Wednesday as he held Hamlin’s hand. “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t ask me. I said what I had to say.”
“Basically (I said) I love him, I’ve got him, I’ll see him in a little while,” Thomas added on “CNN This Morning” Thursday.
Hamlin has shown “signs of improvement” as his team remains in intensive care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. said On Wednesday, restless supporters across the country hung on for updates on his health and NFL players pondered an emotional return to the field this weekend.
The Bills-Bengals game was initially considered a crucial matchup Playoff implicationsHamlin was adjourned after the collapse — a rare move in a league where inherently violent play routinely resumes. Injuries in the field. Even as all 32 teams prepare for their final scheduled regular-season games this Saturday and Sunday — capped off by a 7-3 win over the Bengals — the NFL has yet to announce whether it will make that contest.
After seeing what happened to Hamlin, some players obviously rate themselves ready to play this weekend. It’s still unclear what caused Hamlin heart attackAnd the league will investigate what led to it, NFL chief medical officer Dr. Alan Sills said Wednesday.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow “wants to play” Sunday’s Bengals-Ravens game, but others may not, he told reporters Wednesday.
“If you had voted in the locker room, I’m sure it would have been a mixed vote,” Burrow said. “Personally, I think it’s tough to play … to get back to normal as quickly as you can is how I personally deal with things like that. But … everyone has a different way of dealing with it.
Bills scheduled to host Patriots on Sunday He returned to work on Wednesday Meetings and the first practice of the week will be held on Thursday. Players were encouraged and emotional when Hamlin’s father, Mario Hamlin, held a Zoom call with the team on Wednesday and said his son was making progress, a Bills organization source told CNN on Thursday.
Thomas, whose Colts host the Texans on Sunday, said each team “has to hope that everybody makes the best decision moving forward, whether it’s playing or not.”
“Player-wise … the world in general, we’re all in one heartbeat right now … everybody’s waiting for Damar to be healthy,” Thomas told CNN on Thursday.
Hamlin and Thomas, who were close friends as high school teammates in Pittsburgh, spoke Monday before Hamlin’s fall. Thomas said Wednesday that seeing his friend after the incident at the game “calms me down.” “It made the journey home so much easier. I can go home and know he’ll be straight. I got him. We all got him. Everyone is behind him.
Since his hospitalization, Hamlin has received nationwide support from fans and players in various sports, including a donation of more than $7 million to his foundation’s toy drive. GoFundMe As of Thursday morning. Many athletes are Hamlin’s no. 3 or wearing his jersey, while teams have honored him with Jumbotron messages and light displays at their stadiums.
With about six minutes left in the first quarter of Monday’s game, Hamlin collapsed shortly after being hit by a Bengals receiver who passed Hamlin as he approached for a tackle. Hamlin stood up still twisting the receiver to the ground – but within seconds fell and lay motionless.
His heartbeat was restored on the field, the Bills said have said, before he was taken from the stadium in an ambulance as shocked and emotional players and fans looked on. Hamlin is on a ventilator and was “flipped on his stomach” at the hospital to relieve the difficulty with his lungs, his uncle Dorian Glenn told CNN on Tuesday.
Anytime a player is carted off the field, the NFL and its medical experts conduct a detailed review of what happened, Sills explained in a call with reporters Wednesday. They are also examining the role played by safety equipment, he said.
In some cases, the medical team can’t determine what’s causing the problem, Sills said.
The doctor theorized that the cardiac arrest may have been caused by commotiocardis, a severe shock to the chest that disrupts the heart’s electrical charge, causing dangerous fibrillations.
“There needs to be the right type of blow in the right place in the chest with the right amount of force at the right time in that cardiac cycle. So, a lot of things have to line up for that to happen,” he said, adding that while it’s possible, investigators will consider all options.
Sills attributed the medical staff’s “transformational response” when Hamlin collapsed to a “60-minute meeting” between medical teams and NFL officials before each game. During the meeting, the teams identify the location of medical equipment and nearby medical centers and establish the chain of command in the event of an emergency, including cardiac arrest.
Hamlin’s collapse is the latest in a string of recent tragedies to hit the Buffalo community and its beloved football team. Racist mass shootings and A A historic blizzard He left that At least 41 people died in Erie County, New York.
A top official in the Bills’ organization told CNN’s Coy Wire that they broke down in tears and sobbed after Tuesday’s day-long meetings.
The series of tough blows to Buffalo have emotionally piled up within the company, with the team trying to stay strong for the city, the source said.
Buffalo Sabers hockey forward Tage Thompson’s performance on Tuesday night was a “glow of hope” at a time when the team needed inspiration, a source said.
Hamlin’s jersey no. 3 was a recurring theme throughout the game played on January 3. Thompson’s three overtime goals clinched the victory for the Sabers. It was Thompson’s third hat-trick of the season and his third goal came by chance in the third minute of extra time.
The Sabers also wore “Love for 3” T-shirts honoring Hamlin before the game.
