Rodney Thomas II didn’t hesitate to rush to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center to be with his friend, Bills safety Damar Hamlin, after a scary collapse on the field.
The Indianapolis Colts rookie safety drove over 100 miles from Indianapolis to Cincinnati after he watched his friend suffer a cardiac arrest during the Bills’ Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night.
“I had a goal,” Thomas told reporters on Wednesday in the Colts' locker room. “I knew where I was going, so I just got on the road and I just went laser focused.”
Thomas said that he did not realize what had happened to Hamlin until his dad called him on FaceTime and the two watched the gut-wrenching scene unfold as they watched the medics perform CPR for several minutes on Hamlin before he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
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Thomas met Hamlin at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where the two were teammates and went on to become close friends. Thomas and Hamlin kept in close communication and even spoke to each other prior to Monday night's game in Cincinnati. When Thomas arrived at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and found Hamlin sedated and intubated in the ICU, Thomas held Hamlin's hand and spoke to his friend.
“I knew he could hear me,” Thomas said. “Even if he couldn’t hear me, it didn’t matter. I said what I had to say.”
Thomas said he felt more at ease after seeing Hamlin in the hospital.
“It calmed me way down,” Thomas said. “It made the trip home a lot easier. I could go home and know he’s gonna be straight. I got him. We all got him. Everybody’s behind him.”
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The outpouring of support for Hamlin has been evident as fans and supporters from around the world shared a large number of donations into a GoFundMe account that Hamlin created in 2020 to support his Chasing M's Foundation's holiday toy drive. As of Wednesday morning the GoFundMe account has topped over $7.1 million.
Hamlin still remains in critical condition, but has shown “remarkable improvement.” And Thomas is sure that he will make a full recovery.
“No doubt in my mind,” Thomas said. “He's a fighter. No other thought in my mind of him walking out under his own power.”
