Bills’ Hamlin attends his first game since the collapse and waves to fans

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK. The question that many have been asking for a week has been answered: Damar Hamlin is in the house.

Hamlin made his first public appearance since his cardiac arrest after a tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals three weeks ago, waving to fans from the stadium on Sunday as the two teams met again for an AFC divisional playoff game.

Hamlin, wearing a hooded jacket, stood in front of the windows and raised his hands as if to cheer the crowd and urge them to get on their feet as the Bengals faced the second goal on their 5. At the end, he formed a heart sign with his hands, his trademark gesture.

Before the game, the Bills published videos on Instagram and Twitter apparently showing Hamlin arriving at the team locker room and the message “Welcome home Damar”.

The video shows Hamlin pulling up on a golf cart about an hour before kickoff, wearing sunglasses and a face mask, with the hood of his jacket pulled up. He was accompanied by his 7-year-old brother Damir and mother Nina.

He was not seen on the field before the game started in snowy conditions. The Bills did not announce his whereabouts to the fans present.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen described his presence as “a warm feeling.

“Obviously we wanted to play for him… We just ran into a team that played better than us tonight,” Allen said after the loss.

Hamlin has shown consistent progress since collapsing from cardiac arrest during the first quarter of a January 2 Bills-Bengals regular season game in Cincinnati.

Bills coach Sean McDermott indicated earlier this week that Hamlin has been returning to the Bills facility “almost daily” as his condition continues to improve. As of Friday, McDermott said he did not know if Hamlin would be in attendance for that game.

McDermott said that Hamlin “dipped his finger in here and got on the path to just get back to himself.”

During the week, Hamlin’s spokesman said he still had a long recovery ahead of him and that he sometimes needed oxygen. Hamlin had hoped to attend last weekend’s playoff win against the Miami Dolphins but opted to watch the game from home.

His presence was enough to encourage his teammates, who, after Hamlin’s collapse, surrounded him while medical teams used cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an automated external defibrillator (AED) to restart his heart.

Within minutes, television viewers who watched Monday night’s game instead absorbed the fear and sadness on the faces of the players, some with tears in their eyes.

A spokesman for Hamlin’s family said this week that he still has a lengthy recovery ahead of him.

“Damar still needs oxygen and his heart is monitored regularly to make sure there are no mishaps or consequences,” Jordon Rooney told The Associated Press.

The accounts did not reveal the results of the tests Hamlin underwent to determine why his heart stopped after he was hit in the chest during what appeared to be a routine tackle.

Hamlin, who is originally from Pittsburgh, tweeted live while watching Buffalo’s 35-23 season finale victory over New England from his hospital bed at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Jan. 8. Last weekend, he wrote live from home while watching the Bills’ 34-31 win over Miami in a wild card playoff.

“We’ll be back,” Hamlin wrote hours after the Bills’ season-ending loss to the Bengals. “Don’t even trip.”