Bills safety Damar Hamlin asked who won the Buffalo-Cincinnati game when he awoke from medically induced sedation, Dr. Timothy Pritts of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said Thursday.
“When [Hamlin] asked, ‘Did we win?,’ the answer is, ‘Yes ‘Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life,’” Pritts said. “That’s probably the most 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 cannot talk and is using a breathing tube, but he has been communicating by writing since Wednesday night.
The news comes just hours after the Bills said Hamlin has shown “remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours.”
“While still critically ill, he has demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact,” the team said in a statement. “His lungs continue to heal and he is making steady progress.”
It was also clarified that “neurologically intact” refers to big motor movements and following commands. As far as cognition, speech and other functions of that nature, the doctors are “looking forward to learning more soon.”
Hamlin collapsed at Paycor Stadium during the first quarter of the Bills-Bengals Monday Night Football game. Medical personnel performed CPR and other life-saving measures on Hamlin, who was resuscitated once on the field, per the safety’s friend and marketing representative Jordon Rooney.
Hamlin then was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he has remained in critical condition. It was later determined he went into cardiac arrest.
