Cincinnati, Ohio -- The Buffalo Bills community, Western New York and the rest of the football world continues to await further updates on the health status of Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during the team's "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium.
The Bills last provided an update on Hamlin's status Tuesday afternoon, saying the second-year safety remains in the intensive care unit of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma care center. According to Hamlin's uncle, Dorrian Glenn, there have been some improvements in his nephew's condition, including the fact that he has been breathing better on his own without the full assistance of a ventilator.
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While speaking with NFL Network reporter Cameron Wolfe outside the UC Medical Center on Wednesday, Hamlin's marketing rep Jordon Rooney provided another update on the condition of his friend on behalf of the family.
"Right now, things are moving in a positive direction," said Rooney. "The doctors, what they were looking to see I think they saw that. I can't speak specifically on it, but things are moving in the right direction."
While Rooney was unable to speak directly about any of the medical reports or anything that has been said by doctors, he did want to clarify one area of miscommunication that was discussed by Hamlin's uncle on Tuesday, regarding the number of times he needed to be resuscitated by medical personnel.
"There were some reports last night that he was resuscitated twice. I wanted to clarify it was [misspoken], he was only resuscitated once. Outside of that, things have just been moving in the right direction," Rooney said. "But there's not clarity at this point, in terms of how long things are going to be, how long it's going to take, where things are going to go. So for the family, it's just a matter of seeing more positive signs, and hopefully keep building on that."
In the several hours after the medical emergency took place with Hamlin during the first quarter of Monday's game, there have been plenty of conversations had about the play and the hit Hamlin took from Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. While there have been some may have criticized Higgins for his role in the play, the Hamlin family knows the play was routine and the outcome was a freak accident.
"Damar's parents, they were a little bit frustrated that Tee was receiving any sort of negative backlash. I mean, this was a regular football play," Rooney said. "Tee has reached out, he's been supportive of Damar and his family. So the family doesn't want any negative backlash towards Tee at all."
While the support for Hamlin has come in all sorts of forms since Monday night, many people have chosen to support the Bills safety by heading to his charity GoFundMe page for "The Chasing M's Foundation Community Toy Drive". As of early Wednesday afternoon, the page had received more than $6.3 million from more than 207,700 donations.
Among the notable people to contribute to Hamlin's page and donate in support of his cause includes owner Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots ($18,003), Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford ($12,000), the Houston Texans ($10,003), Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady ($10,000) and a number of other NFL players and athletes.
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According to Rooney, the Hamlin family has been overwhelmed by the gracious support from not only the Bills and Bengals community, but from all corners of the football and the sports world.
"It's been incredible. It's made a really tough situation just a little bit easier," Rooney said. "Damar's family, they are incredibly supportive themselves. So for them to get support like this, they're so grateful. They are always giving to others. So for so many people to rally around them, they just keep saying how thankful they are."