Damar Hamlin update: Buffalo Bills star ‘awake’ and asked ‘who won’ Bills-Bengals game after ‘remarkable improvement’

The widow of the only NFL player to die on the field in the histoy of the sport became “very emotional” while watching Damar Hamlin collapse on Monday, she said.

Chuck Hughes was a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions in October 1971 when he clutched his chest and fell to the ground, suffering a fatal heart attack at the end of the team’s game against the Chicago Bears. His widow, Sharon, rode with him in the back of the ambulance before he was pronounced dead.

Just over 51 years later, she felt everything come back when she watched Buffalo Bills safety Hamlin get up from a tackle, take a few steps and then collapse onto the field during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

“So inspired to hear the story of Damar Hamlin being able to communicate by writing, and wrote to the doctors, “Did we win?” And they respond with, “Yes, you won the game of life.” Man it moves my soul that as he recovers he’s now feeling all the love and mana sent his way,” the Hollywood star tweeted on Thursday.

For Damar Hamlin’s teammates, peers and everyone in the NFL community, going back to work is not business as usual.

Players returned to practice with heavy hearts on Wednesday, two days after Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field during Buffalo’s game at Cincinnati.

Hamlin, the 24-year-old Bills safety, remains hospitalized in critical condition, but his teammates are set to play the Patriots on Sunday, and all games for Week 18 remain on schedule.

Some players across the league have expressed concern about playing this weekend because they’re still processing what happened to Hamlin. Many were in tears watching him receive medical attention on the field. They’re praying for his recovery and are dealing with emotions they’ve never experienced playing a sport.

“An update we were all hoping for, the team tweeted on Thursday after doctors revealed Damar Hamlin was not able to communicate with them.

The game was brought to a halt after Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field on Monday night.

The US president told reporters as he arrived back at the White House from Kentucky that he had spoken with Hamlin’s mother and father “at length” as their son remains in critical condition.

The 24-year-old Buffalo Bills player is being treated at a Cincinnati hospital after he made a hit on a Cincinnati Bengals player and collapsed during the game on Monday night.

Mr Biden was also asked during his trip if he thought professional football was too dangerous.

Unfounded claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines proliferated in the hours and days after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday’s game, revealing how pervasive vaccine misinformation remains three years after the pandemic began.

Even before Hamlin was carried off the field in Cincinnati, posts amassing thousands of shares and millions of views began circulating online claiming without evidence that complications from COVID-19 vaccines caused his health emergency.

While cardiac specialists say it’s too soon to know what caused Hamlin’s heart to stop, they’ve offered a rare type of trauma called commotio cordis as among the possible culprits. Physicians interviewed by The Associated Press say there’s no indication Hamlin’s vaccine status played a role, and said there’s no evidence to support claims that a number of young athletes have died as a result of COVID vaccinations.

The NFL will not resume the Bills-Bengals game that was suspended after Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field on Monday night, sources told The Associated Press.

The league is still working out how to seed its playoffs and when the games will be played, according to the news organisation on Thursday.

Doctors said Mr Hamlin’s neurological functions are intact after cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game.

Doctors at the the University of Cincinnati Medical Center say it is too early to assess whether Damar Hamlin will return to football. They add he is able to move his “hands and feet” and say the next target for Damar is to be able to breathe on his own and without a ventilator.