He’s communicating via writing because he still has the tube in. But he’s as responsive and aware as we could all hope. Incredible.
Next steps: Getting him breathing on his own, continue to improve and then get him home. Lots of work to be done but they’re talking about sending Damar Hamlin home. This is amazing.
Dr. Timothy Pritts says Hamlin asking who won the game was a terrific sign: “It’s not only that the lights are on. We know he’s home.”
Asked about a return to football at some point, Dr. William Knight says “it truly is too early to have that conversation.” They’re focused on getting him extubated and “on the road to recovery.”
Dr. Knight says commotio cordis is “on the list of considerations” for the cause of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest but noted it’s “extremely rare” and there’s still further investigation on other potential causes before they can conclude the cause.
Hamlin initially had a pulse but lost it while being attended to on the field. He received CPR within minutes and his heartbeat was restored. Drs. Knight and Pritts have lauded the work from the medical and athletic training staffs, as well as first responders for their work.
Dr. Pritts says for Hamlin to be upgraded to stable condition, he’ll have to have the breathing tube taken out while his neurological function continues to improve. For now, he remains in critical condition but he’s improving.
That was an informative, uplifting press conference from UC Health. The work done by the staff there, as well as the medical and athletic training staffs and first responders at the stadium, was incredible. To those who perform such work everywhere, you’re heroes. Thank you.
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NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills says commotio cordis is a possible explanation for Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest but further investigation is required before they make a conclusion.
NFL EVP Troy Vincent overcome with emotion right now. “There was only one policy that mattered (Monday) evening. And that was the emergency action plan by the first responders. … That emergency action plan was executed to perfection.”
More from Troy Vincent, through tears: “That evening was outstanding. You gave our brother Damar another day to live, a chance to fight.”
NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent says on a conference call with media says neither head coach nor any players spoke about resuming the game. “It was really about Damar. … Look, I’ve never seen anything like it, so immediately my player hat went on.”
Troy Vincent: “How do you resume play after you’ve seen such a traumatic event occur in front of you real time? That’s the way we were thinking about it, Commussioner (Roger Goodell) and I.”
Troy Vincent is not sure where the 5-minute warmup period came from: “There was no time period for the players to get warmed up. … It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play. That’s ridiculous. That’s insensitive. That’s not a place we should ever be in.”