January 5, 2023 The latest updates on NFL star Damar Hamlin's condition

By Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt, Leinz Vales and Matt Meyer, CNN

Updated 9:26 a.m. ET, January 6, 2023

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2:23 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

CNN's Sanjay Gupta explains what you need to know about Damar Hamlin's health and recovery

Doctors at the University of Cicinnati Medical Center shared a lot of information on Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's condition.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains what it all means:

The key message: The doctors have described "a substantial amount of improvement" since it's only been two and a half days since Hamlin collapsed on field during a game on Monday night, Gupta says. "Not only in terms of his overall status, but also ... his neurological status in particular."
What to consider: "One of the things that you worry about when somebody has cardiac arrest is that there simply wasn't enough oxygenated blood getting to the body, including the brain. And as a result, you don't really know sometimes until someone actually has woken up from sedation and tested the way he was," Gupta explained.
Positive points in Hamlin's health status: "Being able to communicate. He can't talk — he still has a breathing tube in — but was able to communicate, shake his head, nod his head, things like that. And he's also moving his hands and feet," Gupta noted, adding that's important, "because you worry about spinal cord injuries as well. Those things appear to be doing well. He does not appear to have any deficit there."
But doctors still describe him as "critically ill": "That's important to remember. I mean it's only been two and a half days. There may be sort of periods of a little bit of roller coaster still in terms of recovery is what you sometimes see with critically ill patients. It may not be a linear track towards improvement," Gupta noted.

2:21 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Damar Hamlin has "ways to go," physician says

Physicians for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin said Thursday that he has "ways to go" after he suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field on Monday night during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

"We want to see him continue to breathe more on his own, and we want to get him breathing completely on his own. That will be the next big milestone for him," said Dr. William Knight, director of emergency medicine, during a virtual news conference.

Asked if the 24-year-old football player would be able to fully recover, Pritts said that it's too early to predict.

"The focus right now in terms of helping him to recover, liberate (from the ventilator) and continue to get stronger and rehabilitate, but it is entirely too early to project into the future," said Dr. Timothy Pritts of UC health.

2:06 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Damar Hamlin asked who won the game between Bills and Bengals, doctor says

Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin, left, and Jordan Poyer run onto the field before the Bills' game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2 in Cincinnati. (Joshua A. Bickel/AP)

UC Health doctors said Damar Hamlin has even asked who had won the game between his Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals in which he suffered cardiac arrest.

Hamlin has not spoken yet, said Dr. Timothy Pritts, so Hamlin's communication has all been through writing.

"We are in the situation where we wanted to allow him to gradually wake up as the rest of his body was healing and last night, he was able to emerge and follow commands and even ask who had won the game," he said.

"When he asked, 'did we win?,' the answer is, yes, you know, Damar, you won. You've won the game of life and that's probably the important thing out of this, and we really need to keep him in the center of everything else that's going on, and we really want to ensure a good outcome for him," he said.

2:03 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Hospital officials credit Bills staff for quick recognition and resuscitating Hamlin on the field

Dr. William Knight, left, and Dr. Timothy Pritts from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center share an update on Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin via videoconference Thursday afternoon. (UC Health)

Officials at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center outlined the emergency response from the time Damar Hamlin collapsed during the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The hospital's director of emergency medicine, Dr. William Knight, said a "significant number of care team" was present at the game and were "involved in helping with Mr. Hamlin on the field on Monday night."

That included four of the hospital's emergency physicians in various roles, along with medical staff from both teams.

Knight credited the Buffalo Bills medical staff for quickly recognizing the safety had suffered a cardiac arrest, saying "that allowed for a very immediate resuscitation on the field."

"He was promptly resuscitated. It did require CPR and defibrillation," Knight said during a news conference Thursday.

At that point, he was rushed to the hospital.

"He was managed and resuscitated and worked up in the emergency department, had some additional tests in the ED and in the hospital, and then has been managed in the surgical ICU," Knight said.

3:15 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Doctor says tests are still ongoing to determine cause of Hamlin's cardiac arrest

From CNN's Carma Hassan and Adrienne Vogt

When asked about a specific cause of Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest, a University of Cincinnati doctor said tests are still underway to determine it.

"The answer to that is that that workup is ongoing. We do not have definitive answers as to the etiology of the arrest, and tests will continues to progress," said Dr. William Knight, lead physician and professor of emergency medicine at UC Health.

Knight said they aren’t ruling out commotio cordis, but it is too soon to tell without further testing.

Commotio cordis — when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge and causes dangerous fibrillations – is an “incredibly rare event that happens. It's also a diagnosis of exclusion in our world, which basically means we have to rule out many other more common or more deadly or more fixable type conditions before we can settle in on an ultimate diagnosis such as that,” said Knight.

“Is it on the list of considerations? It is, but he has many other things that we need to work through before a final etiology or cause for this arrest can be definitively defined,” Knight added.

Due to privacy concerns, Hamlin’s doctors repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about results of tests Hamlin is undergoing.

Doctors said review is still pending, and they weren’t able to provide detailed answers about how long Hamlin received CPR, Hamlin’s current oxygen level, whether an echocardiogram done, whether Hamlin has seen a specialist about underlying rhythmic or genetic causes, or whether there was damage to other organs such as the kidneys or liver.

3:24 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

"His neurological condition and function is intact." Damar Hamlin is making substantial progress, doctor says

The University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin lies in critical condition, is seen January 3 in Cincinnati. (Megan Jelinger/Reuters)

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been making "substantial progress" and there has been improvement in his condition, said Dr. Timothy Pritts, division chief of general surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

"There's been substantial improvement in his condition over the past 24 hours," Pritts said. "We had significant concern about him after the injury and after the event that happened on the field, but he's making substantial progress."
"As of this morning, he is beginning to awaken, and it appears that his neurological condition and function is intact," he added.

“He continues to be critically ill and continues to undergo intensive care in our surgical and trauma ICU,” Pritts added.

Hamlin's road to recovery has been "long and difficult," said Dr. William Knight, a lead physician and professor of emergency medicine.

"He has been very sick and has made a fairly remarkable recovery and improvement," he said. "He is now demonstrating that sign of good neurologic recovery as well as overall clinical improvement as has been previously reported related to not just his vital signs but a lot of his other individual organ recovery."

1:37 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Buffalo Bills will hold first news conference since Hamlin collapse, source tells CNN

From CNN's Coy Wire

The Buffalo Bills will hold its first news conference since safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday night, according to a source. The news conference is expected to start at about 4:30 p.m. ET.

Head coach Sean McDermott and select players are expected to speak at Highmark Stadium in Orchard, Park, New York.

The Bills will practice on Thursday ahead of the media availability.

1:48 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

Biden says he spoke with Damar Hamlin's family

President Joe Biden reacted to an update on Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's health Thursday, referencing a conversation he had with the safety's parents.

"Great news," Biden said, retweeting a statement from the Bills from his official Twitter account. The president said he spoke with Hamlin's parents Wednesday.

View the tweet below:

1:01 p.m. ET, January 5, 2023

The NFL has not yet made a decision on Bills-Bengals game, spokesperson tells CNN

From CNN's Jacob Lev

Paycor Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, is lit with Buffalo Bills colors in support of Damar Hamlin on January 3 in downtown Cincinnati. (Kareem Elgazzar/The Cincinnati Enquirer/AP)

The NFL has not made a decision on whether to resume the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals that was postponed Monday after Damar Hamlin's collapse, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told CNN Thursday.

The NFL said it is continuing to explore a number of options.

The game's official outcome could have implications for the league's playoffs, set to begin after this weekend's contests on Saturday and Sunday.