CNN —
More than two weeks after Buffalo Bill safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a football game, a Hamlin representative says the defender has a long road ahead of him.
In a statement from ESPN, Hamlin’s longtime friend and business partner, Jordon Rooney said: “Despite being discharged from hospital, Damar is still having a long recovery.
“Damar still needs oxygen and has his heart monitored regularly. He’s visited the team a couple of times, but he still gets winded very quickly. He is optimistic and positive and ready to continue to overcome this.”
The statement comes just a day after Bill’s head coach Sean McDermott told reporters that Hamlin was at the team’s facility almost daily, CNN previously reported.
“It’s limited, just overall, but he comes in and — it really only started today or yesterday — he’s just trying to get back into a little routine, reacclimatize, take one little step at a time,” McDermott said on Wednesday while discussing Hamlin.
“His looks like walking around here is one positive thing and three to see [Hamlin wears the No. 3 on his jersey] just smile and just wave and just squeeze his heart and keep squeezing. It’s a positive energy bubble that’s just floating around the facility,” said offensive lineman Dion Dawkins.
The Bills will play the Cincinnati Bengals — the team Buffalo was playing when Hamlin collapsed on the field — in the AFC divisional round at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.