CNN
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Tamar Hamlin as Buffalo Bills player is in critical condition After A heart attack occurs during sportsHamlin will recover, says his childhood friend and fellow NFL player “there’s no doubt in my mind.”
Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II went straight to a Cincinnati hospital where Hamlin was knocked unconscious after collapsing on the field during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I knew he could hear me,” Thomas said Wednesday, as he held Hamlin’s hand. “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t ask me. I said what I had to say.”
The pair, who became close friends when they were teammates at their Pittsburgh high school, were talking earlier Monday before Hamlin’s fall. “It calmed me down,” Thomas said of seeing his friend. “It made the journey home so much easier. I can go home and know he’ll be straight. I got him. We all got him. Everyone is behind him.
Hamlin is showing “signs of improvement” as his team remains in intensive care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. said Wednesday.
His heartbeat was restored on the field, the Bills said have said, before he was taken from the stadium in an ambulance as shocked and emotional players and fans looked on. Hamlin is on a ventilator and was “flipped on his stomach” at the hospital to relieve the difficulty with his lungs, his uncle Dorian Glenn told CNN on Tuesday.
Since Hamlin’s hospitalization, he has received nationwide support from fans and players around the sports world, including more than $7 million donated to his foundation’s toy drive. GoFundMe As of Thursday morning. Many athletes are Hamlin’s no. 3 or wearing his jersey, while teams across the league have honored him with Jumbotron messages and light displays at 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 incomplete game — which will not continue this week — but has yet to announce a strategy.
Initially considered an important late-season matchup with significant playoff implications, the showdown averaged 21.1 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen estimates. After Hamlin’s collapse, viewership grew to a historic 23.9 million, making it the most-watched “Monday Night Football” telecast in ESPN history.
With about six minutes left in the first quarter of Monday’s game, Hamlin collapsed shortly after being hit by a Bengals receiver who passed Hamlin as he approached for a tackle. Hamlin stood up still twisting the receiver to the ground – but within seconds fell and lay motionless.
It’s still unclear what caused Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, but NFL chief medical officer Dr. Alan Sills said the league will investigate what may have led to it.
Anytime a player is carted off the field, the NFL and its medical experts conduct a detailed review of what happened, Sills explained on a call with reporters Wednesday. They are also examining the role played by safety equipment, he said.
In some cases, the medical team can’t determine what’s causing the problem, Sills said.
The doctor also floated theories that the cardiac arrest may have been caused by commotiocardis, a severe shock to the chest that disrupts the heart’s electrical charge, causing dangerous fibrillations.
“You have to hit the right type of blow in the right place in the chest with the right amount of force at the right time in that cardiac cycle. So a lot of things have to line up for that to happen,” he said, adding that while it’s possible, investigators will consider all options.
Sills attributed the medical staff’s “transformational response” when Hamlin collapsed to a “60-minute meeting” between medical teams and NFL officials before each game. During the meeting, the teams identify the location of medical equipment and nearby medical centers and establish the chain of command in the event of an emergency, including cardiac arrest.
Hamlin’s collapse is the latest in a string of recent tragedies that have hit the Buffalo community and its beloved football team. Racist mass shootings and A A historic blizzard He left that At least 41 people died in Erie County, New York.
A top official in the Bills’ organization told CNN’s Coy Wire that they broke down in tears and sobbed after Tuesday’s day-long meetings.
The series of tough blows to Buffalo have emotionally piled up within the company, the source said, with the team trying to stay strong for the city, the source told Wire.
A source pointed to Buffalo Sabers hockey forward Tage Thompson’s performance on Tuesday night as a “glow of hope” at a time when the team needed inspiration.
Hamlin’s jersey number, 3, was a recurring motif throughout the Jan. 3 game. Thompson’s three goals in overtime gave the Sabers the victory. It was Thompson’s third hat-trick of the season and his third goal came by chance in the third minute of extra time.
The Sabers also wore “Love for 3” T-shirts honoring Hamlin before the game.
