Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin has been released from the Cincinnati (United States) hospital where he had been hospitalized since last Monday and has been allowed to return to Buffalo to continue his recovery, his doctors have confirmed.
Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during the Buffalo Bills NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday and had been in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
In a medical release offered by doctors William Knight IV and Timothy Pritts, it was confirmed that Hamlin had not only been released from the hospital after showing excellent recovery, but was also undergoing physical therapy, walking and tolerating a regular diet. The 24-year-old has been transferred to a Buffalo hospital to undergo further tests as part of his recovery.
«Damar Hamlin has been released and has returned to Buffalo. He is doing well and is in the next stage of his recovery. Since we last reported to you, Damar has met a number of key milestones: he has been weaned off oxygen, continued physical and occupational therapy, walked around the unit, tolerated a regular diet, met with his family and many members of the care team who wanted to see how he was doing, all so he could return to Buffalo,» the doctors explained.
Hamlin himself confirmed the news on Twitter. «Heading home to Buffalo today with so much love in my heart. Watching the world rally around me on Sunday was an incredible feeling. The same love you all showed me is the same love I plan to give back to the world, and more. Bigger than football», he said.
Doctors confirmed that Hamlin’s next steps will include «a continuing series of tests and evaluations» to try to determine the cause of the incident.
Doctors also said it was too early to draw conclusions about Hamlin’s football career. «It’s too premature to talk about not only his career, but also his day-to-day recovery. He still has a ways to go in his recovery. We are delighted with his current condition; he is up, walking and has an amazing sense of humor,» they said.
Knight and Pritts commented that Hamlin watched the Bills’ win over the New England Patriots on Sunday, and joked that after one particularly exciting play he had «set off all the alarms at the ICU.»
SOURCE: (dpa/EP)
