Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been discharged from a Cincinnati hospital one week after suffering a cardiac arrest during an NFL game.
He will continue his recovery at a hospital in Buffalo, doctors said.
The 24-year-old, who had to be resuscitated on the pitch, was released from University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC) on Monday.
“He is doing well and this is the beginning of the next stage of his recovery,” said Dr William Knight.
Hamlin collapsed during a match at Cincinnati Bengals after making a tackle on wide receiver Tee Higgins, and received more than 30 minutes of medical attention on the field before being moved to an intensive care unit in the city.
He spent two days on a ventilator but doctors said he was up walking the unit by Friday.
The Bills player thanked the Cincinnati medical staff in a social media post on Monday after being flown from Ohio to Buffalo to continue his care at the city’s General Hospital.
“Grateful for the awesome care I received at UCMC,” Hamlin wrote on Twitter. “Happy to be back in Buffalo. The docs and nurses at Buffalo General have already made me feel at home!”
The American football community rallied in support of Hamlin, raising millions of dollars for charity in his name before making tributes at NFL matches when play resumed at the weekend.
He added on Twitter: “Headed home to Buffalo today with a lot of love on my heart. Watching the world come together around me on Sunday was truly an amazing feeling. The same love you all have shown me is the same love that I plan to put back into the world n more. Bigger than football!”
The most poignant show of support for Hamlin came in the Bills’ return to action on Sunday, when they beat the New England Patriots at home to clinch second seed in the AFC for the play-offs.
‘It’s up to Damar’ – doctor on Hamlin’s chances of NFL return
Dr Knight, who accompanied Hamlin from UCMC to the airport before his transfer to Buffalo, believes it is too early to say whether the Bills player could resurrect his NFL career.
“It’s entirely too premature to discuss his football, we’re focused on his day-to-day recovery,” Dr Knight told reporters during a briefing.
“He still has a ways to go in terms of his recovery. We’re thrilled where he is today. But in terms of any kind of conjecture about his future, that’s still significantly into the future. It’s going to be up to Damar.”
Timothy Pritts, a physician at UCMC, said they had not yet determined the cause of his cardiac arrest .
“We anticipate that he will undergo an ongoing series of tests and evaluations,” he added, predicting a normal recovery time could range from “weeks to months”.
“He appears to be neurologically completely intact and there’s no reason to believe that he won’t continue his path to recovery.”
Meanwhile, Bengals coach Zac Taylor described Hamlin’s return to Buffalo as “unbelievable”.
“I mean, just think about it – that was one week,” he said. “There’s no one in this room that would have expected he’d be in Buffalo. This is certainly a miracle, there’s no question.”
