The Buffalo Bills NFL team said Wednesday that safety Damar Hamlin is improving in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center intensive care unit after collapsing in cardiac arrest on the field Monday night.
"Damar remains in the ICU in critical condition with signs of improvement noted yesterday and overnight," the team posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. "He is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him."
The 24-year-old Buffalo Bills professional football player collapsed in cardiac arrest after tackling a Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver during the first quarter of Monday night's game, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the report, Hamlin briefly stood up after the tackle, in which he appeared to take a blow to his chest, only to fall back to the ground. Medical providers administered CPR, restoring his heartbeat.
An ambulance came onto the field and rushed Hamlin to the hospital for treatment as fellow players, coaches and fans looked on in shock, some openly crying.
The NFL postponed the rest of the game.
The Journal reported that Hamlin may have suffered a condition known as commotio cordis, Latin for "agitation of the heart," involving a sudden blunt trauma to the chest that impacts the electrical impulses going to the heart, causing it to stop beating.
League officials, however, said that while it is possible the hit Hamlin took while making the tackle could have caused that condition, more tests need to be conducted.
"There's still a lot of investigation that needs to happen to understand that," NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said in the report. "It's certainly not an exaggeration to say that the skilled and the immediate response by all of these talented caregivers prevented a very tragic outcome at that moment. We never want to see events like this occur. But if there were to be a medical emergency, there was absolutely the right team with the right equipment and the right training on site able to provide care."
On Tuesday, the family expressed its gratitude for the support sent to them since the incident Monday night.
"On behalf of our family, we want to express our sincere gratitude for the love and support shown to Damar during this challenging time," the statement read. "We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words, and donations from fans around the country."
The family also thanked the first responders and medical personnel at the hospital for the "exceptional" care given to Hamlin.
"We feel so blessed to be part of the Buffalo Bills organization and to have their support," the statement read. "We also want to thank Coach [Zac] Taylor and the Bengals for everything they have done."
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