In June 2022, Jessica Pegula’s mother Kim was hospitalized with a serious health issue.
Kim Pegula, 53, co-owner of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres with her husband Terry, suffered a cardiac arrest at her home.
Jessica’s sister, Kelly, was home with her at the time and administered life-saving CPR, a skill that she was certified in just three months before her mother’s incident.
Though the family has a very public persona, they kept the information private for eight months until tennis star Jessica broke their silence and penned a poignant essay published in The Players’ Tribune this week.
The essay is called “I Want To Talk To You About My Mom”.
Kim Continues To Recover
God be with the Pegula family.
Prayers and healthy thoughts to the entire group. What strength to be able to share this with the world by Jessica Pegula <~ Thank you. https://t.co/mERphcITjC— JT Thomas 🦬 (@JTT81) February 7, 2023
Kim Pegula continues to recover from cardiac arrest but is dealing with memory loss and speech issues.
Describing her mom’s condition, Jessica writes:
“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, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with her at all. The doctors continue to be blown away by her recovery, considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force of that.”
Despite all of this, Jessica writes that the life force her mother brought to business, community, and family is likely gone forever.
The family is picking up the pieces with her dad taking on a lot more responsibilities.
Jessica is 28 years old, at the peak of her tennis career, and currently ranked fourth in the world in women’s singles.
However, during the past eight months, she questioned whether she should continue playing professional tennis.
She soldiered on knowing that her mother would want her to do so.
Bills Player Damar Hamlin’s Cardiac Arrest Hit Home Even More
Though the entire world watched Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapse on the field in the Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, no one can imagine what the Pegula family felt when they learned he also had a cardiac arrest.
Jessica described her anxiety hearing about Hamlin’s cardiac arrest while waiting to play a mixed doubles event in Sydney, Australia.
She ultimately decided to wear Hamlin’s number 3 on her tennis outfit to pay tribute to him and his family.
Jessica Concludes Essay By Thanking Buffalo Community
Knowing that people wondered what was happening, Jessica thanked the Buffalo community for their patience.
“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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