Buffalo, New York (AP) Jessica Pegula, a professional tennis player, said that her mother, Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres co-owner and president Kim Pegula, suffered a heart arrest in June and is still healing while battling with serious language and memory impairments. Jessica Pegula recounted for the first time in an editorial published by The Players’ Tribune on Tuesday the medical crisis that abruptly withdrew her mother from the public eye, implying that her mother may not resume her engagement in the family’s sports teams.
Kim Pegula, she claimed, went into cardiac arrest while sleeping and got life-saving CPR from another daughter before paramedics arrived and recovered her heartbeat. The family had previously stated that Kim Pegula was receiving medical attention for “some unexpected health issues” that emerged shortly after her 53rd birthday. “My mom is working hard in her recovery, and she is improving, but where she ends up is still unknown,” Jessica Pegula, 28, stated.
She said she chose to write about her mother’s ordeal after Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a heart arrest on the field during a Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati, which Pegula described as “some bizarre, messed-up, full circle moment.”
“My stomach dropped because it felt like the same thing all over again. I was seated on a bench at a tennis event in Sydney, Australia. Jessica Pegula, the WTA’s fourth-ranked singles player, wrote, “I wanted to throw up.” “I was supposed to go on for mixed doubles in 15 minutes and I remember telling one of my teammates, ‘I am a little freaked out right now, this is too close to home, and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack.” ‘
As Hamlin began to heal, Jessica Pegula wore a white screen-printed patch with Hamlin’s uniform number while playing at the Australian Open, joining an outpouring of fan and NFL support. “It didn’t feel like it was just for him, it felt like it was for my mom as well,” she stated. Jessica Pegula had been home in Florida for months when she received a call from her sister, Kelly, at midnight on their mother’s birthday, informing her that she was being transported to the hospital.
“My mom was asleep when my dad woke up to her going into cardiac arrest and she was unresponsive for quite a while,” she stated in her letter. Kelly Pegula, who was staying with their parents, conducted CPR just three months after telling her family that she wanted to become qualified in the process for work. “I remember her telling us what she was doing in our family group chat,” Jessica Pegula stated. “My mom even answered, ‘Nice Kells! “Now if we have a heart attack, you can revive us.”
Kim Pegula now “can read, write, and understand pretty well, but she has trouble finding the words to respond,” according to Jessica Pegula. “It is difficult to deal with, and communicating with her requires a lot of patience, but I thank God every day that we can still interact with her at all. The physicians are still amazed at her recovery, given where she started, and her desire is the driving force behind it.”
Kim Pegula, the first woman to be president of both an NHL and an NFL franchise, “lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met,” Jessica Pegula wrote. “We now realize that all of that is most likely gone. That she will no longer be able to be that person. Kim and Terry Pegula, who grew up in Western New York, purchased the Sabres in 2011 and the Bills in 2014. The latter purchase served as an emotional rallying cry for the region, which was concerned about losing the team after founder Ralph Wilson’s death.
The Kim Pegula case has been part of a difficult year for Buffalo, which has also seen Hamlin’s medical predicament, more than 40 deaths from a harsh winter storm, and the murder of ten people in a supermarket mass shooting targeting the Black population. Jessica Pegula commented, “It’s been a difficult year, but I also feel fortunate and blessed.” “I’m grateful she’s still with us; other families may not have been as fortunate. That she had a chance of recovery after such a difficult first week in the hospital. Thankful for the doctors who helped her heal. Thankful that she is finally home and can watch the Bills, Sabres, and my tennis matches.
“She never watched my matches previously because she was too nervous. Now she’s keeping an eye on everyone.”
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