As the Buffalo Bills have reported, stricken player Damar Hamlin ‘has shown remarkable improvement’ and appears ‘neurologically intact,’ Hamlin’s close high school buddy and fellow NFL player, Rodney Thomas II, is there by his friend’s bedside cheering him on.
Thomas, who attended Central Catholic High in Pittsburgh and played on the school’s football team alongside Hamlin, is now a safety for the Indianapolis Colts. And with Indianapolis less than four hour’s drive from Cincinnati, Thomas jumped in his car. He immediately drove to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center to be by Hamlin’s side in the aftermath of Hamlin’s Jan. 2 collapse.
But Thomas is sure that his buddy will win this battle. Thomas said there is “no doubt in my mind” Hamlin will recover,” according to CNN.
“I know he could hear me,” Thomas said. “Even if he couldn’t hear me, it didn’t matter. I said what I had to say.”
“Just basically (I said) that I love him, and I’ve got his back, and I’ll see him in a little bit,” Thomas told the cable news network.
Thomas, who said that he spent some time holding Hamlin’s hand as the latter was abed in a coma, said that he had to hope the NFL is looking out for its players and that each team needs to “trust that everybody would just make the best decision moving forward, whether that’s playing, whether that’s not playing.”
“Player-wise … just the world in general, we’re all just one heartbeat right now … all waiting for Damar just to get healthy,” Thomas added.
On Thursday, the Bills sent an update that Hamlin is showing “remarkable improvement” and added that Doctors feel he is “neurologically intact.”
“We are grateful for the love and support we have received,” the team wrote.
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