BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Bills safety Damar Hamlin wants to return to football “eventually,” he said on Super Bowl Sunday. The comment came less than six weeks after his collapse and cardiac arrest in the Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Eventually,” Hamlin said in an interview with Fox’s Michael Strahan in the network’s Super Bowl pregame coverage on Sunday. “That’s always the goal. As a competitor, I’m trying to do things just to keep advancing my situation.”
After the collapse, Hamlin spent nine days in a Cincinnati hospital. On Sunday, he declined to get into specifics of what he remembers from the night.
“That’s something that I’m still trying to work through, why that happened to me,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin became a rallying cry for the Bills during the rest of the season, being active in the facility and attending games.
During the Super Bowl pregame pageantry, the NFL honored the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals training and medical staffs, along with the staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. A minute later, Hamlin joined them, putting his hands together to form a heart. He also received hugs from several of the first responders.
“My entire life, I felt like God was using me to give others hope and now with a new set of circumstances, I can say he’s doing what he’s always done,” Hamlin said Thursday. “I have a long journey ahead, a journey full of unknowns and a journey full of milestones, but it’s a lot easier to face your fears when you know your purpose.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.