Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin revisited the University of Cincinnati Medical Center Sunday to honor the medical staff that saved his life, eight months after collapsing on the field during a game with the Bengals.
“Back in Cincy for the first time. Reliving the toughest moments of it all & leaving an impact at the same time,” Hamlin wrote of the visit on his Instagram.
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Hamlin collapsed on the field after a hit from Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins during a Jan 2 game. Medics spent ten minutes administering CPR to the Buffalo Bills player before transporting him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he had to be revived again, his uncle revealed at the time. Days after being put on a ventilator, Hamlin was awake and breathing on his own, even asking his doctors before extubation who had won the game. “You won the game of life,” they told him.
Calling Cincinnati “my third home,” Hamlin stressed that the #3 was very important to him, referencing his jersey number.
Earlier in July, Hamlin honored the first responders who saved his life at the EPSY Awards, giving them the Pat Tillman Award for Service, according to People. “I didn’t wake up that morning in January thinking that I would need someone to save my life that day, and I doubt that the staff thought that they had to do what they did either,” Hamlin stated. (RELATED: Damar Hamlin Released From Hospital One Week After On-Field Cardiac Arrest)
Hamlin went on to say that in the time since his near-death experience he’s learned that “any of us at any given time are capable of doing something that’s incredible, in saving a life and living a life in service to others. It’s a blessing. It’s a responsibility. And it’s the very reason why you’re hearing my voice right now. Anyone could be a hero. These are mine,” he said of the first responders, according to People.
Just weeks after his miraculous recovery, Hamlin attributed his survival to a higher power, telling fans “God was using [him] as a vessel.” Hamlin reiterated that sentiment on his Instagram Sunday, stating “God had a plan for me [and] now I’m doing His work, enjoying every second of it.”