CNN
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Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin spoke publicly on Saturday for the primary time since suffering a cardiac arrest on the sector earlier this month in a video posted on social media.
Within the video posted on Twitter by the Bills, Hamlin said he decided to attend and speak publicly at the precise time because the situation was “loads to process,” but thanked medical personnel and fans for his or her support.
“What happened to me on Monday Night Football, I feel was a direct example of God using me as a vessel to share my passion and my love directly from my heart with your entire world and now I’m able to provide it back to kids and communities all the world over who need it probably the most and that’s all the time been my dream, what I stood for and what I proceed to face for.”
Hamlin’s Chasing M’s Foundation community toy drive has raised over $9 million as of Saturday.
The 24-year-old followed by thanking the Bills medical staff by name for his or her immediate care, in addition to the primary responders on the University of Cincinnati Hospital and doctors at Buffalo Medical Center.
The video interview was Hamlin’s first since he collapsed after making a tackle in the primary quarter of the Bills-Bengals game on January 2. Doctors and trainers gave Hamlin CPR on the sector and he was rushed out of the stadium in an ambulance, leaving players, coaches, fans and people watching on TV in shock and unsure whether he was alive.
Medical officials said he suffered a cardiac arrest, meaning his heart abruptly stopped beating. The sport was postponed and ultimately canceled.
Since then, Hamlin has made remarkable progress, and he was discharged from a Buffalo medical center on January 11.
Hamlin was present on the Bills’ divisional round match-up against the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday, during which the lost Bills 27-10.
