Damar Hamlin Transferred From Hospital in Cincinnati to Buffalo

Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who collapsed on the field Jan. 2 during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, was released from the intensive care unit at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday and has returned to Buffalo, the doctors who cared for him at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center announced during a news conference.

Hamlin, 24, has continued to improve since he went into cardiac arrest on the field last week. He was transferred to the Buffalo General Medical Center/ Gates Vascular Institute for ongoing care. Doctors in Cincinnati said that Hamlin was upgraded from critical condition on Monday morning and met several other requirements for transport, including no longer needing intensive nursing care or intensive respiratory therapy.

“He still has a little bit of a ways to go in terms of his ongoing recovery,” said Dr. William Knight IV, an emergency medicine physician who helped care for Hamlin at U.C.M.C. and was authorized by Hamlin’s family to give updates on his condition. “We are thrilled to where he is today. He is up, he is walking around, he’s got an amazing, genuine sense of humor.”

Hamlin had his breathing tube removed on Friday and walked with help that same day. On Sunday, he watched the Bills’ win against the New England Patriots. The doctors joked that Hamlin “set off every alarm in the I.C.U.” when he excitedly jumped up and down in response to the Bills’ returning the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Recovery from a life-threatening event like the one Hamlin experienced usually takes weeks to months, said Dr. Timothy Pritts, a trauma surgeon who was also part of Hamlin’s care team at U.C.M.C. Dr. Pritts said Hamlin was on “a very normal to even accelerated” trajectory, which means that his progress has been a little bit ahead of what’s expected at each stage.

Hamlin will continue to need different kinds of therapy and care from specialists, the doctors said, as he regains strength and continues to recover from being intubated for three days. They declined to speculate on how far Hamlin is from returning to normal life and said that any discussion of whether he could play football again would be “significantly into the future.”

Bills Coach Sean McDermott and General Manager Brandon Beane visited Hamlin on Monday afternoon after his return to Buffalo.

Hamlin will continue to undergo tests and evaluations to determine the cause of his medical emergency. Dr. Pritts said it was still “fairly premature” to comment on that. The next steps in Hamlin’s care, including when he can return home and whether he would be able to attend a Bills game during this postseason, will be determined by doctors in Buffalo.

“We wouldn’t necessarily call this miraculous,” Knight said. “Is it remarkable? Absolutely. But his was a textbook resuscitation on behalf of our team that allowed Damar to have an expected outcome when one has immediate bystander CPR and defibrillation.”