Doctor: Bills Damar Hamlin, upon waking, asks who won the game
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CINCINNATI, OH – Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center say Damar Hamlin is awake, able to communicate by writing, and is improving in his medical condition.
Damar has been in critical care at UCMC since he went into cardiac arrest after the Monday night game at the Bengals. The hospital’s emergency department director Dr. Timothy Pritts and the hospital’s general surgery division chief Dr. William Knight spoke at a press conference on Thursday afternoon about Damar’s improvement.
According to Dr. Knight, after Damar woke up, he wrote on a piece of paper ‘who won the game?’ Dr. Knight said ‘Yes, Damar did win. He won the game of life.’ Damar has been able to communicate by writing brief messages and by shaking his head ‘yes’ and ‘no’, according to Dr. Timothy Pritts.
Damar is able to move his hands and feet. Since waking, he has held the hands of family members, teammates, and medical staff.
The doctors say they still don’t know what caused the cardiac arrest. They would have to perform tests once he’s more recovered to determine the cause.
Members of the Bills organization and Damar’s family have been at his bedside all week, and “we want to get him home to them,” Dr. William Knight said.
Medical staff have told him how much support has been flowing in for him. “It appears that all cylinders are firing in his brain, which is extremely gratifying for us,” Dr. Pritts said.
“We want to see him continue to breathe more on his own and then breathe completely on his own. That would be the next big milestone for him,” he said.
Doctors explained the steps to removing Damar’s breathing tube eventually. At first, Damar was 100% reliant on the ventilator for breathing and that percentage has gone down. When he is 0% reliant, medical staff can take out the breathing tube.