Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin has shown "signs of improvement" in recent hours, but remains in critical condition, the team said Wednesday afternoon.
"Damar remains in the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition with signs of improvement noted yesterday and overnight," the Bills said in a statement.
"He is expected to remain in intensive care while his healthcare team continues to monitor and care for him."
The latest update on the 24-year-old's health comes days after Hamlin collapsed on a Cincinnati, Ohio, court during a game on Monday.
There, first responders performed CPR on him before transferring him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a local hospital.
His uncle Dorrian Glenn told CNN that there are encouraging signs that the player is improving and that doctors have lowered his oxygen level on a ventilator from 100% to 50% to help him breathe on his own.
Damar Hamlin, sedated and face down to relieve pressure on his lungs, according to a family member
Jan 4, 202300:59
“Right now he's still sedated,” Glenn said.
“(The doctors) want him to have a better chance of recovering better.
So they believe that if he is sedated, his body can heal much faster than if he were awake and that would cause other potential complications."
The uncle also told CNN that Hamlin had to be resuscitated twice, once on the court and once in the hospital, but a family spokesman later denied this claim, saying the athlete's heart had only stopped once.
Glenn recounted that he was watching the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals with some relatives in Pennsylvania when he suddenly saw his nephew collapse.
“I had never cried so much in my life,”
he recounted.
"Knowing that my nephew died on the field of play and that he was revived... It breaks my heart."
The player's representative also assured this Wednesday that Hamlin's recovery is moving in "a positive direction."
How a routine takedown ended in cardiac arrest that has Damar Hamlin between life and death
Jan 4, 202301:59
"We all remain optimistic
," Jordon Rooney told The Associated Press news agency, adding that he could not elaborate further on Hamlin's condition at the request of his family.
Rooney said Hamlin's family was being positive and encouraged by the outpouring of global support the player has received.
With information from CNN and The Associated Press.
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