The Bills received a bit of extra motivation ahead of Sunday’s home playoff game against the Dolphins in the form of a special message from safety Damar Hamlin, less than two weeks after the 24-year-old suffered a medical emergency on the field in Cincinnati.
“My heart is with my guys as they compete today!” Hamlin wrote on Twitter ahead of kickoff. “Supporting from home as I focus on my recovery. Nothing I want more than to be out there with them! LFG.”
After previous reports indicated Hamlin would be in attendance for the game at Highmark Stadium, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport shared that Hamlin remains on oxygen and is still being closely monitored at home by doctors.
Hamlin’s message to his team comes after he had a chance to visit in person with teammates Saturday. Bills linebacker Matthew Milano posted a video on his Instagram story, in which he was standing alongside a smiling Hamlin at the team’s facility in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Hamlin was discharged from the hospital Wednesday, just nine days after he collapsed during a Monday Night Football game against the Bengals. Medical personnel administered CPR to him on the field, and he was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was sedated in the intensive care unit. The Bills later announced that Hamlin had gone into cardiac arrest on the field at Paycor Stadium.
Since then, Hamlin has been steadily improving and was eventually able to be transported to a Buffalo hospital. He has also been able to communicate more with doctors, teammates and fans, which included FaceTiming with his teammates ahead of the Bills’ regular-season finale. Last Saturday, he posted on social media with his first public comments since his medical emergency.
Now out of the hospital and back at home, he’ll be able to cheer on the No. 2-seeded Bills from home as they take on the No. 7-seeded Dolphins at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
