Damar Hamlin has been discharged from hospital in Cincinnati just a week after suffering a cardiac arrest during an NFL game.
The Bills safety is returning to Buffalo to continue his remarkable recovery after the medical emergency that took place during last week’s Monday Night Football meeting with the Bengals at Paycor Stadium.
“We are thrilled and proud to share that Damar Hamlin has been released from the hospital and returned to Buffalo,” the Bills relayed in a statement on Monday.
“He is doing well and this is the next stage of his recovery.”
Headed home to Buffalo today with a lot of love on my heart. 🫶🏾
— 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐥𝐢𝐧 (@HamlinIsland) January 9, 2023
Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling.
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! 🫶🏾
Hamlin tweeted: “Headed home to Buffalo today with a lot of love on my heart. Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling.
“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!”
Hamlin was transported by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after receiving CPR for approximately 10 minutes and having an automatic external defibrillator used to restore his heartbeat after collapsing on the field after making a tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during the midpoint of the first quarter of a game that was first suspended and then abandoned last Monday night.
He was considered in a critical condition in intensive care after being placed on a ventilator but his lung capacity quickly improved and doctors later revealed that he was awake, neurologically intact and able to communicate with his family and care team.
Hamlin has continued to make great progress since then, with the 24-year-old having his breathing tube removed overnight on Thursday and able to talk as he spoke to his team-mates over FaceTime in the build-up to their final game of the regular season against the New England Patriots.
Hamlin tweeted a picture of himself watching Sunday’s game from his hospital bed and he is now heading back to Buffalo to continue his recovery, with doctors admitting that it is too soon to say if he will be able to resume his NFL career.
“Grateful for the awesome care I received at UCMC,” Hamlin said. “Happy to be back in Buffalo. The docs and nurses at Buffalo General have already made me feel at home!”
Bills coach Sean McDermott said: “What a blessing, just incredible progress that he’s made and incredible care that he’s been under, both in Cincinnati and now here. So we’re just very thankful for that. Just thankful that Damar is back and resting in Buffalo here.
“(Hamlin’s) just very tired but he seems happy and happy to be back in Buffalo and around a familiar area to him.”
There has been widespread support for Hamlin across America and beyond since his cardiac arrest, with almost $9million contributed to the The Chasing M Foundation - a charity set up by Hamlin during his time at the University of Pittsburgh as he operated a toy drive for the children in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. The Chasing M Foundation have now launched a charitable fund in partnership with the The Giving Back Fund.
Tributes were paid to the 2021 sixth-round draft pick in sporting venues across the country all week, including on Sunday in the NFL, where players, coaches and fans all showed their support with t-shirts, signs and much more, with his jersey number three prominent at every stadium.
