Damar Hamlin asked doctors who won Bills-Bengals game: ‘You won’
When Bills safety Damar Hamlin awoke from a medically induced sedation Wednesday night, he asked by writing on paper who won the Buffalo-Cincinnati game on “Monday Night Football,” according to Dr. Timothy Pritts, division chief of general surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
“We are in a situation where we wanted to allow him to gradually wake up as the rest of his body was healing,” Pritts said during a press conference at UC Medical Center on Thursday. “Last night he was able to emerge and follow commands and even ask who had won the game.
“When he asked, ‘did we win?,’ the answer is, ‘yes, you know, Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life,’ and that’s probably the important thing out of this, and we really need to keep him in the center of everything else that’s going on, and we really want to ensure a good outcome for him.”
Pritts clarified that Hamlin is unable to speak, as the 24-year-old remains on a ventilator and in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
“He did not speak with us,” Pritts said. “He was able to communicate with us in writing. He is unable to speak with us as he still has a breathing tube in and we are assisting him in ventilation.”
Pritts specified that Hamlin is communicating with a pen, piece of paper and a clipboard.
“It’s not just the lights are on…he’s home,” Pritts said, later adding that all cylinders are firing in his brain.
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest Monday after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins during the first quarter. He was resuscitated on the field and rushed to the hospital. The Bills announced Thursday morning Hamlin was “neurologically intact” and had made “remarkable improvement.”
“We’ve discussed with him what happened. He’s not quite at the point where we can have a conversation because of the breathing tube,” Pritts continued. “He is communicating with brief notes and shaking and nodding of the head. He expressed surprise that he hasn’t been with the world for two days and we talked to him about all the support that’s been showed for him.”
Dr. William Knight, the hospital’s director of emergency medicine, confirmed reports that Hamlin is holding people’s hands.
“There’s been substantial improvement in his condition over the past 24 hours,” Pritts said. “We had significant concern about him after the injury and after the event that happened on the field, but he’s making substantial progress. As of this morning, he is beginning to awaken, and it appears that his neurological condition and function is intact.”
The doctors repeatedly said that Hamlin continued to be critically ill, and that the immediate goal is to get him to breathe on his own, without the assistance of a ventilator.
When asked what caused Hamlin to suffer cardiac arrest on the field, Pritts said, “That workup is ongoing. We do not have definitive answers. Tests will be ongoing as he continues to progress.”
The doctors also credited the quick response from the Bills’ medical staff, adding that it would be fair to say there could have been a different outcome to the situation if the medical personnel had waited a few extra minutes.
Doctors also said it is too soon to determine whether Hamlin will play football again.
“The best outcome would be getting him back to who he was before this all happened,” Pritts said.
