MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 25: Damar Hamlin #3 of the Buffalo Bills looks on prior to a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on September 25, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Damar Hamlin is reportedly awake and has been holding hands with his family in the hospital, his agent tells CNN. The Buffalo Bills player had been in a medically-induced coma at the hospital ever since the 24-year-old’s in-game cardiac arrest on Monday.
His agent Ron Butler broke the news Thursday, with one of Hamlin’s teammates, Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam, adding he’s also “showing more signs of improvement.”
“Our boy is doing better, awake and showing more signs of improvement. Thank you God,” Elam tweeted Thursday morning.
The Bills’ tweeted that Hamlin improved remarkably in the last day and appears to be “neurologically intact.”
“Per the physicians caring for Damar Hamlin at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Damar has shown remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours,” the Bills tweeted. “While still critically ill, he has demonstrated that 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,” the tweet went on to say.
The Shade Room previously reported that Hamlin collapsed in the first quarter in Monday’s Bills game against the home team, the Cincinnati Bengals, shocking the packed stadium and causing the game’s immediate postponement, which is an extremely rare occurrence in an otherwise inherently violent sport.
It is still unclear what caused Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, and the league will investigate what could have led to it, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the NFL has not yet announced whether it will be Monday’s game will be replayed at a later date.
The game had ended with the Bengals leading 7-3, as all 32 teams prepare for their final scheduled regular-season games this weekend.
Fellow NFL player and Hamlin’s childhood friend says there is “no doubt in my mind” he will recover. Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II said he drove straight to the Cincinnati hospital where Hamlin lay sedated.
“I know he could hear me,” Thomas told reporters Wednesday, adding he held Hamlin’s hand. “Even if he couldn’t hear me, it didn’t matter. I said what I had to say.”
Thomas II added “just basically (I said) that I love him, and I’ve got his back, and I’ll see him in a little bit,” before news that Hamlin was awake was released, according to CNN.
Hamlin’s mid-game health scare has caused other players to rethink about getting back on the field.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said he “probably wants to play” Sunday’s Bengals-Ravens game, but revealed that there may be others who don’t, he told reporters Wednesday.
“I’m sure if you polled the locker room, there’d be mixed votes on that,” Burrow said. “Personally, I think playing is going to be tough … I think getting back to as normal as you can as fast as you can is personally how I kind of deal with these kinds of things. But … everyone has a different way of dealing with it.”
Buffalo returned to work Wednesday, where they held several meetings, and are set to hold their first practice back on Thursday.
Hamlin’s teammates were emotional yet hopeful after a Zoom call from Hamlin’s father, Mario Hamlin, who told the team Wednesday that his son is making progress, a source within the Bills organization told CNN.
The Bills are currently scheduled to host the Patriots on Sunday,
