(CNN) Six weeks after suffering cardiac arrest on the football field, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin said he’s doing “great” physically but is “still working through things emotionally.”
Hamlin collapsed after a tackle on Jan. 2 in the first quarter of a game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals in which doctors and coaches performed CPR and used an on-field defibrillator to revive him.
The 24-year-old was admitted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center before being transferred to a Buffalo Medical Center on Jan. 9. After making remarkable progress, he was released on January 11th.
Medical officials said Hamlin went into cardiac arrest, meaning his heart suddenly stopped beating. The cause of the cardiac arrest was not determined.
“Every morning, every night I take 10 deep breaths and that puts everything into perspective for me. I’m doing great,” Hamlin said in an interview with Good Morning America that aired Monday.
“I’m still working through things, I’m still trying to process all the emotions and trauma that comes from dealing with a situation like this and I don’t really have people around me – nobody in my immediate environment who is dealing with dealt with something like that.”
Hamlin said he owes his life to Bills assistant athletic coach Denny Kellington, who performed critical CPR on the field.
“I owe Denny one [Kellington] my life, literally,” he said. “He loves to say he was just doing his job, which is true. He was literally the savior of my life that night as he resuscitated me and for that I’m really grateful and not to be taken for granted.”
Players, coaches and fans were in visible shock when Hamlin was taken from the stadium in an ambulance last month, with the game between the Bills and Bengals being postponed and eventually cancelled.
Hamlin, who declined to answer a question about what doctors said happened to him, revealed he had seen the hit at least once while he was in intensive care but couldn’t see too much.
“[It’s] just a crazy feeling,” he said. “Something I can’t describe yet, something I’m still processing, something I’m still trying to work through. Why did this happen to me?”
Last week said Dr. Thom Mayer, medical director of the NFL Players Association, he “guarantees[s]“that Hamlin will play professional football again.
The 24-year-old said he wanted to return to the sport at some point but described the possibility of a return as a “difficult situation”.
“She [doctors] I can’t really say because it’s up to me,” he said. “It’s a long road and they’re just concerned that they’re trying to get me back to normal as much as possible.”
Last month, Hamlin launched the 3 For Heart CPR Challenge campaign in partnership with the American Heart Association to increase awareness and education about CPR.
CNN’s Nadia Kounang, Ben Morse, John Sinnott and Jen Christensen contributed coverage.