American football star Damar Hamlin had to be resuscitated twice after his heart stopped following a dramatic on-field collapse, his uncle has revealed.
The 24-year-old Buffalo Bills player was given CPR for about 10 minutes after he collided with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during their game on Monday night.
An ambulance was called onto the field, and the Bills’ coach led the team in prayer as Hamlin left the stadium. Many of his teammates were in tears, as his mother watched on from the crowd.
Hamlin’s uncle Dorrian Glenn said on Tuesday night that his nephew was still sedated in a Cincinnati hospital.
“His heart had went out, so they had to resuscitate him twice. They resuscitated him on the field before they brought him to the hospital, and then they resuscitated him a second time when they got him to the hospital,” he told CNN outside the hospital.
Mr Glenn thanked the medical staff, saying: “If not for them, my nephew probably wouldn’t be here.”
He said watching the game with Hamlin’s brother had been “heartbreaking”.
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“I’m not a crier, but I’ve never cried so hard in my life… my nephew basically died on the field, and they brought him back to life.
“I’m just glad he’s still alive and able to fight and trying to get better and recover.”
He said the family was taking things “day by day” but he said it appeared he was “trending upwards in a positive way”.
Mr Glenn said Hamlin had sustained some damage to his lungs and he was on a ventilator to help with his breathing and take some of the strain off his lungs.
Both his parents were by his side and had been at the game, he said.
Before his collapse on primetime television, Hamlin had been attempting to raise money to buy toys for needy children and after two years had collected almost $3,000 (£2,500).
In the past 24 hours, that total has reached $5.5m (£4.6m) and the number is climbing.
About 183,000 people have donated online, on average, about $30. Some of the donations were smaller. Some were more than $5,000 and included a number of NFL players.
