‘THRILLED AND PROUD’

‘A Lot of Love on My Heart’: Damar Hamlin Leaves Hospital

The 24-year-old headed home to Buffalo on Monday, with Ohio doctors praising his “fairly remarkable recovery” in a matter of days.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was released from an Ohio hospital on Monday, exactly a week after collapsing on the field and going into cardiac arrest just minutes into a matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In a statement shared by the Bills, doctors with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said they were “thrilled and proud” to share the update that Hamlin was back in Buffalo.

“He is doing well and this is the next stage of his recovery,” the medical center added.

Hamlin, 24, posted his own statement minutes later, tweeting that he was going “home to Buffalo today with a lot of love on my heart.”

“Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling,” he continued. “The same love you all have shown me is the same love that I plan to put back into the world n more. Bigger than football!”

Hamlin, who is in his second season with the Bills, regained consciousness last Thursday, immediately asking “who won” the game, doctors previously said. He began walking on Friday, according to medical staff, and has begun therapy.

Doctors said that Hamlin, though “a little weak,” appeared to be “completely neurologically intact,” according to a Sports Illustrated reporter. Though a full rehabilitation could take months, staff were praising his “fairly remarkable recovery” so far.

Hamlin also watched from his hospital bed on Sunday as his teammates played their first game since last Monday when Hamlin, nine minutes into play against the Bengals, made a seemingly routine tackle, stood up, and crumpled to the ground.

For 10 minutes, medics worked to keep him alive on the field, restarting his heart for the first of what would eventually be two times. As he was transported away in an ambulance, many Bills players sobbed and hugged one another.

On Sunday night, the team—sporting jersey patches with Hamlin’s No. 3—ended its regular season with a 35-23 victory over the New England Patriots.

“If you want the truth, it was spiritual,” quarterback Josh Allen said afterward. “It really was. Bone-chilling.”

The Bills-Bengals matchup was postponed initially, but it took the league another three days to finally confirm they were canceling it, given the “extraordinary circumstances.”

Given that the game was not rescheduled, the Bills and the Bengals were both left with only 16 regular season games on their cards, in contrast to the other teams’ 17. After Sunday’s game, the Bills finished 13-3, just behind the Kansas City Chiefs (14-3) for the No. 1 seed spot.

On Friday, all 32 owners in the league voted to ratify an unusual postseason plan designed to remedy that imbalance, introducing a modified format for the AFC playoffs that could potentially involve a neutral site for the championship game.

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AJ McDougallBreaking News Reporter

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