Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Kim Pegula was hospitalized last summer with an unspecified health issue, and we now know a bit more about how difficult the recovery process has been for her.
Jessica Pegula, a tennis star and the daughter of Kim and Terry Pegula, opened up about her mother’s condition in a piece she wrote for The Players’ Tribune that was published on Tuesday. Jessica said Kim went into cardiac arrest last June while asleep. Jessica’s sister, Kelly, performed CPR on Kim and “saved her life,” according to Jessica.
Kim spent a week in intensive care. Jessica says she was then moved to an in-patient care facility and was “aware, talking a little, but a long way from her normal self.” While Kim has been steadily improving since, Jessica said the 53-year-old “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, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with her at all,” Jessica wrote. “The doctors continue to be blown away by her recovery, considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force of that.”
Jessica said the situation with her mother added to how sick Jessica felt when Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field last month. The 28-year-old said her “stomach sunk” because it “felt like the exact same thing all over again.”
Kim had been very visible at sporting events and around the Bills before her health emergency. It sounds like it may be a while before she can return to that lifestyle, but it is a positive sign that she is making progress.
