Damar Hamlin update: He’s awake and holding hands with his family, his agency tells CNN, following cardiac arrest during an NFL game

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[Breaking news update, published at 11 a.m. ET]

Buffalo Bills player Hamlin devastation He’s up and holding hands with his family in the hospital after the 24-year-old’s cardiac arrest in the game Monday, his agent Rob Butler told CNN on Thursday.

Hamlin His team showed “significant improvement,” Thursday morning.

“According to the doctors who care for Damar Hamelin at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Damar has shown significant improvement over the past 24 hours,” tweet bills. While still in critical condition, he has been shown to appear neurologically healthy. His lungs are continuing to heal and he is making steady progress.

“We are grateful for the love and support we have received.”

The first agency for the sport, which represents the safety of the Damar bills, added, in her own tweet.

[Original story, published at 10:29 a.m. ET]

As Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin He is still in critical condition After, after He suffers a heart attack in the gamehis childhood friend and fellow NFL player says “There’s no doubt in my mind” Hamlin will recover.

Indianapolis safety Rodney Thomas II drove directly to a Cincinnati hospital where his 24-year-old was sedated after Hamlin collapsed on the field early in Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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“I know he can hear me,” Thomas told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he was holding Hamlin’s hand. “Even if he can’t hear me, it doesn’t matter. I said what I had to say.”

“I just (said) I love him, I support him, and I’ll see him in a little bit,” Thomas added Thursday on CNN This Morning.

Hamlin has shown “signs of improvement” as he remains in intensive care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and his team He said Wednesday, as agitated fans across the country commented on his condition updates and NFL players contemplated an emotional return to the court this weekend.

Bills-Bengals game, initially considered an important game Implications for the playoffwas held up after Hamlin collapsed—a rare move in the league as aggressive play usually resumes afterward field injuries. The NFL has yet to announce whether it will constitute that contest — which stalled with the Bengals winning 7-3 — even as all 32 teams prepare for their scheduled regular season finals on Saturday and Sunday.

After seeing what happened to Hamlin, some players are assessing their readiness to play this weekend. The cause of Hamelin’s disease remains unclear Cardiac arrestDr. Allen Sales, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said Wednesday that the league will investigate what could have led to this.

He told reporters Wednesday that Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow “might want to play” on Sunday in the Bengals-Ravens game, but there may be other players who don’t.

“I’m sure if you polled the locker room, there would be mixed votes on that,” Boro said. “Personally, I think playing it is going to be tough… I think getting back to normal as quickly as possible as quickly as possible is personally how I deal with these kinds of things. But… everyone has a different way of dealing with it.”

The Bills, scheduled to host the Patriots on Sunday, He returned to work Wednesday With meetings scheduled to hold their first practice week Thursday. The players were encouraged and emotional when Hamlin’s father, Mario Hamlin, had a Zoom call with the team on Wednesday, a source in the Bills organization told CNN Thursday.

Thomas, whose Colts host the Texans on Sunday, said every team should “trust everyone is going to make the best decision going forward, whether that’s playing or not playing.”

“From a player’s point of view…just the world in general, we’re all just one heartbeat right now…we’re all waiting for devastation just to get healthy,” Thomas told CNN on Thursday.

Hamlin and Thomas, who had become close friends with high school classmates in Pittsburgh, spoke daily and spoke on the Monday before Hamlin collapsed. Thomas said on Wednesday that seeing his friend so soon after the in-game incident “calmed me down a lot.” “It made the trip home so much easier. I can come home knowing it’s going to be straight. I got it. We all got it. Everyone’s behind it.”

Since his hospitalization, Hamlin has received nationwide support from fans and players across professional sports, including more than $7 million donated to his foundation’s gaming campaign. GoFundMe As of Thursday morning. Many athletes wore Hamlin’s No. 3 or his jersey while teams honored him with Jumbotron messages and light shows in their stadiums.

Hamlin collapsed shortly after a tackle in which a Bengals receiver attempted to run past Hamlin, who was a close tackle, with about six minutes left in the first quarter of Monday’s game. Hamlin still rolled his receiver to the ground and stood up—but within seconds he had fallen and was motionless.

His heartbeat was restored on the field, Bills He said, before being taken off the field in an ambulance while players and fans were visibly amazed and emotional. His uncle Dorian Glenn told CNN on Tuesday that Hamlin was on a ventilator and “rolled over on his stomach” in the hospital to help relieve some of the pressure on his lungs.

Sales made it clear on a Wednesday call with reporters that any time a player is evacuated from the field, the NFL and its medical experts do a detailed review of what happened. He said they are also examining the role that protective equipment might play.

In some cases, Sales said, the medical team won’t be able to determine the cause of the problem.

The doctor has theorized that cardiac arrest could be caused by commotio cordis, which occurs when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge, causing dangerous fibrillation.

“You have to have the right kind of strike in the right place in the chest with the right amount of force at exactly the right time in that cardiac cycle. So, there are a lot of things that have to be lined up to make that happen,” he said, stressing that while it is possible , the investigators will consider all options.

Sales attributed the medical staff’s “transformational response” when Hamlin collapsed to the “60-minute meeting” that medical teams and NFL officials have before each game. During the meeting, teams locate nearby medical equipment and medical centers, and establish a chain of command in case of emergency, including cardiac arrest, among others.

Hamlin’s collapse is the latest in a string of recent tragedies to hit the Buffalo community and its beloved football team, including Racist mass shooting and a Historic blizzard This left At least 41 people were killed in Erie County, New York.

A senior Bills official told CNN’s Coy Wire they broke down in tears after day-and-night meetings Tuesday, sobbing at the weight of the situation.

The string of hard blows against Buffalo built up emotionally within the organization, the source said, adding that through it all, the team has tried to be an asset to the city.

The source said Buffalo Sabers hockey forward Tygue Thompson’s performance on Tuesday night was a “glimmer of hope” at a time when the team needs inspiration.

Hamlin’s jersey number 3 was a recurring motif throughout the match, played on 3 January. Thompson’s three goals during overtime sealed the victory for the Sabers. This was Thompson’s third hat-trick of the season and his third goal came by accident in the third minute of extra time.

The Sabers also wore “Love for 3” T-shirts in Hamlin’s honor before the game.