Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been discharged from the hospital nine days after collapsing on the field during a Monday Night Football game between Buffalo and the Cincinnati Bengals. He will continue to receive rehab treatment at home, the team announced Wednesday.
”We have completed a series of tests and evaluations, and in consultation with the team physicians, we are confident that Damar can be safely discharged,” Dr. Jamie Nadler, a pulmonologist at the Buffalo General Medical Center, said in a statement.
After sustaining his injury on Jan. 2 in a collision with Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, Hamlin spent a week at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was temporarily put to sleep so that a breathing tube could be inserted. When his condition began to improve, he was transferred to Buffalo General.
“Special thank-you to Buffalo General it’s been nothing but love since arrival! Keep me in y’all prayers please!” Hamlin said in a tweet Tuesday.
When Hamlin first woke up in U.C. Medical Center, he asked who won the game between the Bills and Bengals after he departed. He wasn’t aware that the game was postponed and would go on to be canceled. This past weekend, he was reportedly ecstatic watching his team defeat the Patriots in a game that included a kickoff return touchdown by Nyheim Hines on the first play of the game.
“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,” Dr. Timothy Pritts of U.C. Health said.
Millions of NFL fans have followed Hamlin’s recovery from critical condition. His toy drive, once aiming to raise $2,500 for children impacted by the pandemic, has now received well over $8 million in donations from fellow players, NFL officials and countless fans. It is the only fund currently maintained by the Hamlin family as they continue to focus on his health.
