Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin still has a way to go in his recovery, according to his doctors, and it’s too early to project the future.
“There are many, many steps still ahead of him. From our standpoint, we would like to see him continue to improve, to be completely breathing on his own and to be ready to be discharged from the hospital,” University of Cincinnati Health Dr. Timothy Pritts said.
“He has a little ways to go in terms of liberation from the ventilator,” UC Health Dr. William Knight added.
The player's doctors said they’d like to get him off the ventilator as soon as possible, but every patient is different, and Hamlin will get all the support he needs for as long as he needs.
“We sort of view the ventilator as an aid for him as he needs it. And so you know, after the initial event, we were supporting him on the ventilator 100%. And what our goal really is for liberation from mechanical ventilation is to gradually decrease the amount of support and let him pick up the difference and when we reach 0% support, breathing tube comes out, and we define that as success,” Pritts said.
Hamlin’s family and teammates have been at his bedside since he has been hospitalized, Pritts said.