Damar Hamlin Continues Incredible Recovery With Another Significant Milestone

The road to recovery for Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin is expected to be a long and arduous one.

But each day it appears Hamlin continues to make significant progress which has proven extremely encouraging to both he and the NFL community.

The 24-year-old suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. Medical personnel performed CPR for nine minutes and he was eventually resuscitated using an AED. Hamlin was then taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Facility. He’s remained there since the incident.

The immediate prognosis for Hamlin was terrifying. He was without a pulse for a significant period of time. Then, when he regained a pulse, he could not breathe on his own.

Many worried about his neurological function during his recovery. But each day has seemingly brought more and more encouraging news. The Bills revealed on Thursday morning that doctors deemed Hamlin neurologically intact. Doctors also let fans know that Hamlin was conscious and communicating nonverbally with both them and his family.

But at that point, Hamlin was not yet breathing on his own. On Friday, we got an even better update.

Shams Charania of The Atheltic tweeted that Hamlin had his breathing tube removed and is able to breathe on his own. He also reports that Hamlin is able to speak with friends and family, including his Buffalo Bills teammates.

Fans were overjoyed when they heard the news.

Hamlin still has a long road back to a full recovery. But this is yet another massive step forward in a short period of time. His rapid rate of recovery is incredibly encouraging to those who feared the worst on Monday night.