BUFFALO, N.Y. — When the world lost sight of Damar Hamlin on Monday night, he fell into the hands of doctors at the University of Cincinnati.
“We had significant concerns about him after the injury, and after the event that happened on the field, but he is making substantial progress,” Dr. Timothy Pritts of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said.
Within 30 minutes of his collapse, he was met by the hospital’s trauma and emergency medical teams and was given additional tests before being moved to the surgical ICU where he remained in the dark for almost 48 hours until showing his first signs of responsiveness overnight.
“He expressed surprise that he had been not with the world for two days, and we've talked to him about all the support that's been given from Cincinnati, Buffalo and really across the country,” Dr. Pritts said.
Since waking up, doctors are saying his neurological function appears to be intact and that he has been able to hold the hands of loved ones and communicate with them by shaking his head and writing with pen and paper.
“The first question that he wrote when he started to awaken was, 'Did we win?' ” Dr. Pritts said. “We know that it's not only that the lights are on. We know that he's home, and it appears that all cylinders are firing within his brain.”
And with medical experts saying Hamlin’s chance of survival could have dropped anywhere between 7-10% for every minute he went without CPR on Monday night, his doctors tonight are crediting the Bills training staff and their immediate response for any chance of recovery he still has ahead.
"This went as well as something like this could go under very challenging circumstances,” Dr. Pritts said.