Damar Hamlin is heading back home. On Monday, the Buffalo Bills announced the 24-year-old safety has been released from the hospital one week after collapsing during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals and going into cardiac arrest. Hamlin from Cincinnati to Buffalo on Monday and is receiving treatment at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute.
“He is currently listed in stable condition and continues to make significant progress in his recovery,” the hospital said in a statement, per ESPN. “The goal of the transfer to Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute is to get him closer to home for further evaluation, recovery and eventually discharge and rehabilitation.”
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Hamlin went to Twitter to share the news. “Headed home to Buffalo today with a lot of love on my heart,” Hamling wrote. “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!”
On Friday, Hamlin began walking without assistance. He remained in the hospital’s surgical intensive care unit until he was transferred as doctors wanted him to reach the point where they could upgrade his condition from critical to fair or good. “In general, we want to ensure that each organ system is stable to improving and that he needs a minimum amount of assistance, such that he does not need intensive nursing,” Dr. Timothy Pritts of the University of Cincinnati medical center said.
“And we have some awesome rock star nurses who’ve been with him from the beginning, but he no longer needs that level of nursing care. No longer needs intensive respiratory therapy from our respiratory care practitioners and is able to, then, move to a setting where he would have less intensive care.”
On Sunday, the NFL paid tribute to Hamlin with teams wearing “Love for Damar” shirts and wearing his No. 3 Bills jersey. The Bills paid tribute to Hamlin by winning the game against the New England Patriots on Sunday. And the game began with Bills running back Nyheim Hines scoring on a 96-yard kickoff return.
When talking about the kick return, Pritts said: “[Hamlin] watched the game yesterday. When the opening kickoff was run back, he jumped up and down, got out of his chair, set, I think, every alarm off in the ICU in the process, but he was fine, it was just an appropriate reaction to a very exciting play.”
