Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In an emotional letter published in The Players' Tribune, Jessica Pegula offers the first substantial update on the health of her mother Kim Pegula, co-owner of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres.
The younger Pegula reports her mother suffered cardiac arrest in their Florida home in June of 2022 and that her sister, Kelly, performed CPR on Kim. "My mom was asleep when my dad woke up to her going into cardiac arrest and she was unresponsive for quite a while. My sister gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived. She saved her life. Even though she doesn’t like to take credit for this terrible situation, she absolutely saved her life."
After spending a week in an intensive care unit, Pegula was moved to an in-patient care facility and was talking a little, but nowhere near her normal self, says Jessica. She began a long road to recovery and is improving every day, writes Pegula. "She is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues. She can read, write, and understand pretty well, but she has trouble finding the words to respond. It is hard to deal with and it takes a lot of patience to communicate with her."
Jessica Pegula writes about how the Damar Hamlin incident hit her and the family hard. Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals and his immediate treatment and recovery brought memories from earlier in the year with her mom rushing back. "My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again. I was sitting on the bench for a tennis event in Sydney, Australia. I wanted to throw up."
"My mom is working hard in her recovery, she is improving, but where she ends up is still unknown," notes Pegula in her letter.
Pegula closes her emotional and revealing letter with a thank you to the Buffalo community: "Thank you to the Buffalo community for your patience. I know you have wanted answers and it took us a while to get there but it finally felt like it was time. Thank you to everyone who has respected privacy and shown me and my family tremendous support throughout this ongoing journey."
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