Damar Hamlin update: While Bills player is still in critical condition, Colts’ Rodney Thomas II explains his hospital bedside visit

CNN
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As Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin He is still in critical condition After, after He suffers a cardiac arrest in the middle of the gamehis childhood friend and fellow high school safety Rodney Thomas II of the Indianapolis Colts, says “there is no doubt in my mind” that Hamlin will recover.

Thomas drove straight to the hospital where Hamlin was being treated Monday night, where he said Hamlin lay sedated after he was rushed from the field during the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I know he can hear me,” Thomas said while speaking to reporters on Wednesday. He said he was able to be in the room with Hamlin and hold his hand. “Even if he can’t hear me, it doesn’t matter. I said what I had to say.”

The couple, who became close friends while teammates at Pittsburgh High School, spoke daily and spoke earlier on the Monday before Hamlin’s collapse.

“It calmed me down a lot,” Thomas said of seeing his friend. “It made the trip home so much easier. I can come home knowing it’s going to be straight. I got it. We all got it. Everyone’s behind it.”

Hamlin remains in intensive care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after collapsing during the first quarter of Monday night’s game, although he showed “signs of improvement,” his team said in a statement. Declaration Wednesday.

His heartbeat was restored on the field, Bills He said, before being taken from the stadium in an ambulance while the players were visibly distraught and emotional. His uncle Dorian Glenn told CNN on Tuesday that Hamlin was on a ventilator and “rolled over on his stomach” in the hospital to help relieve some of the pressure on his lungs.

Since entering the hospital, Hamlin has received an outpouring of nationwide support from fans and players across the world of sports, including more than $7 million donated to his foundation’s gaming campaign. GoFundMe As of Thursday morning. Many athletes wore Hamlin’s number, 3, or his jersey while teams across the league honored him with jumbotron letters and light shows in their stadiums.

The Bills-Bengals game was postponed after Hamlin collapsed with the Bengals leading 7-3. The NFL is discussing how to handle the unfinished game — which won’t continue this week — but hasn’t yet announced a strategy.

Initially seen as an important late-season game with significant playoff implications, the encounter averaged 21.1 million viewers on ESPN during play, according to Nielsen ratings. After Hamlin’s collapse, viewership grew to 23.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched “Monday Night Football” telecast in ESPN history.

The cause of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest remains unclear, but NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Seals said the league will investigate what could have caused the player to collapse during the game.

Sales made it clear on a call with reporters Wednesday that any time a player is evacuated from the field, the NFL and its medical experts do a detailed review of what happened. He said they are also examining the role that protective equipment might play.

In some cases, Sales said, the medical team won’t be able to determine the cause of the problem.

The doctor also touched on theories that the cardiac arrest may be caused by commotio cordis, which occurs when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge, causing dangerous fibrillation.

“You have to have the right kind of blow in the right place on the chest with the right amount of force at exactly the right time in that cardiac cycle. So you have to line up a lot of things to make that happen,” he said, stressing that while it is possible, the investigators They will consider all options.

Sales attributed the medical staff’s “transformational response” when Hamlin collapsed to the “60-minute meeting” that medical teams and NFL officials have before each game. During the meeting, teams locate nearby medical equipment and medical centers, and establish a chain of command in case of emergency, including cardiac arrest, among others.

Hamlin’s collapse is the latest in a series of recent tragedies that have gripped the Buffalo community and its beloved football team, including Racist mass shooting and a Historic blizzard This left At least 41 people were killed in Erie County, New York.

A senior Bills official told CNN’s Coy Wire they broke down in tears after day-and-night meetings Tuesday, sobbing at the weight of the situation.

The string of hard blows against Buffalo built up emotionally within the organization, the source said, adding that through it all, the team has tried to be an asset to the city, the source said.

The source referred to the performance of Buffalo Sabers hockey forward Tage Thompson on Tuesday night as a “ray of hope” at a time when the team needs inspiration.

Hamlin’s jersey number, 3, was a recurring motif throughout the match, played on 3 January. Thompson’s three goals during overtime sealed the victory for the Sabers. This was Thompson’s third hat-trick of the season and his third goal came by accident in the third minute of extra time.

The Sabers also wore “Love for 3” T-shirts in Hamlin’s honor before the game.