Chiefs DL BJ Thompson out of hospital days after suffering seizure, cardiac arrest in team meeting
Four days after he suffered a seizure and cardiac arrest during a team meeting, Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman BJ Thompson is out of the hospital.
Thompson’s agent Chris Turnage provided the update to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on Monday night via a statement.
“The family thanks everyone for their prayers and wants to especially thank the Chiefs medical and training staff for their rapid response and professionalism throughout this situation,” Turnage’s statement reads.
No further updates on Thompson’s condition were provided.
The medical incident took place at Chiefs facilities on Thursday during OTAs. Kansas City’s vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder told reporters on Friday that kicker Harrison Butker first witnessed the incident and rushed to alert the Chiefs’ medical and training staff. Per Burkholder, Thompson then received attention from the staff and a doctor who was on site.
“He was still seizing, and then he went into cardiac arrest, so our team of that group of people provided CPR for him,” Burkholder said. “He had one AED shock and came back, so he was probably only in cardiac arrest for a minute, minute and a half.”
BJ Thompson was heavily sedated and placed on a ventilator at a hospital on Thursday. (Ric Tapia/Getty Images)
Thompson, 27, was then transported to a hospital via ambulance, where he was heavily sedated and placed on a ventilator to help him breath through the sedation. Burkholder said that doctors took him out of sedation on Friday and that Burkholder was “headed in the absolutely right direction.”
What led to the seizure and cardiac arrest remains unclear.
“We don’t have a diagnosis, and in medicine, sometimes you don’t have that,” Burkholder said Friday.
The Chiefs selected Thomas in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Stephen F. Austin. He played one game as a rookie during Kansas City’s run to a second consecutive Super Bowl title, tallying two tackles in a Week 17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Thompson’s prognosis on and off the field remains unclear.
