Jessica Pegula says her sister saved her mother’s life during a 2022 cardiac arrest

CNN
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US tennis star Jessica Pegula says her sister Kelly saved their mother’s life when she went into cardiac arrest at home last year.

In an article published in Players Tribune on Tuesday, Pegula opened up about his family’s difficult year, which culminated in a strange, confusing, full-circle moment when Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field during an NFL game.

In June of last year reports appeared As for Pegula’s mother, Kim, co-owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres, is hospitalized.

Not much was known about her condition at the time, but in a recent article, Pegula detailed what happened and how her mother has since recovered.

My mother was asleep when my father woke up to find himself in cardiac arrest and unresponsive for a long time, Pegula said.

My sister resuscitated him until the ambulance arrived. He saved his life. Although he does not want to take credit for this terrible situation, he definitely saved his life, after which the paramedics who arrived on the scene performed critical work and were able to restore the heartbeat.

Pegula’s mother has been a co-owner of the Bills since 2014, when she bought the franchise with her husband, Terry, for more than $1 billion.

The couple also owns the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, making Kim the first woman to become president of both an NFL and NHL team.

Pegula says her mother loved her job and was the engine room of a sports empire, but she worries she can no longer be that person.

He deals with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory problems, Pegula said. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage to a specific area of ​​the brain Johns Hopkins Medicine.

He can read, write and understand fairly well, but he has a hard time finding the words to answer. It’s hard to deal with and it takes a lot of patience to communicate with him, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with him.

Doctors are still amazed at her recovery considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force behind it.

He says the family practically lived in the hospital for the first two weeks of the recovery process, and his father didn’t want to go home without his wife.

The pressure of taking care of a family and running a successful business empire took its toll on everyone, says Pegula.

When they say one day in the hospital equals a week in recovery, it’s no joke. We were all mentally and physically exhausted, he added.

Focusing on her mother’s recovery, Pegula questioned whether shed will be able to continue playing tennis at a high level.

But guided by her mother’s attitude to life, she decided to play at Wimbledon just weeks after her mother’s cardiac arrest, making it to the third round.

She then reached the quarter-finals of the US Open before ending the year ranked number three in the women’s singles world.

I think one thing I learned from this past year is that it can be a good year and a bad year, both can be true, he said.

While her mother recuperated at home, Pegula turned her attention to tennis and flew to compete in the Australian Open early in the year.

Before the start of the grand slam tournament, however, he received the news that Bills player Hamlin had suffered a cardiac arrest and was fighting for his life in the hospital.

Pegula, who was minutes away from playing in the mixed doubles in Sydney, says her stomach sank when she heard what had happened.

I don’t usually get too anxious, but the thought of what Damar and her family went through made my heart hurt, she said, adding that she was close to having a panic attack.

I knew how important time is. I was just thinking about time, time, time, time. I hope they got him back and soon enough.

The medical staff and trainers who helped that night really saved his life and made a huge recovery. I ended up playing mixed doubles and we won.

Hamlin, 24, survived and, like Kim, faces a long recovery process.

Pegula says her incredible recovery inspired her performance at the Australian Open, where she reached the quarterfinals.

He wore Hamlins’ number three on his shorts during the tournament, but says it was also in honor of his mother.

The year has been difficult, but at the same time I feel lucky and blessed, he said.

I am grateful that he is still with us, even though other families may not have been so lucky. That he even had a chance to recover when the first week in the hospital looked so bleak.

Thanks to the doctors who helped in his recovery. Grateful that he’s home now, that he gets to watch the Bills, the Sabers, and my tennis games.

He never watched my matches before because he got too nervous. Now he watches them all.