Bill’s co-owner went into cardiac arrest, tennis star daughter Jess Pegula reveals after Damar Hamlin’s health battle

THE unfortunate truth about Buffalo Bills and Sabers co-owner Kim Pegula has been revealed.

Jessica Pegula, Kim’s daughter, has opened up about her mother’s recent health struggles in a heartbreaking article for The Player’s Tribune.

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And according to the article, her decision to speak out came in light of Bill’s star Damar Hamlin’s recent cardiac arrest.

Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during the Bills’ Monday Night Football game with the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium.

The 24-year-old fell to the ground after tackling wide receiver Tee Higgins and had to be resuscitated on the field before being taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Luckily he has since returned home and is making a remarkable recovery.

But during the recent event in Australia, Jessica wrote that the Hamlin situation was at home and texted her husband Taylor asking: ‘When can we start talking about this? When can I tell her story, my story, my family’s story?

“Everyone keeps asking me. I really need to get rid of it.”

What it took for her to break free of her chest was that Kim had also suffered cardiac arrest the previous June.

It all happened around midnight on Kim’s birthday, when her father, Terry, woke up “as she went into cardiac arrest and was unresponsive for quite a while.”

Jessica credits her sister for saving her mother’s life by performing “CPR until the ambulance arrived.”

Explaining how the family essentially settled into the hospital over the next few weeks, she goes on to say, “We took shifts, we brought each other food, we knew all the nurses and doctors, we even knew their schedules.”

Kim was eventually transferred from the ICU “to an inpatient care facility” about a week later, where she continued to make progress.

Jessica explained: “She was aware, spoke a little, but far from her normal self.

“After a long two weeks, she was in good shape to begin her recovery, which we knew would take a very, very long time.”

The fact that Kim recovered was in itself “a miracle,” she explains.

As her mother continued to recover, Jessica decided to play at Wimbledon.

But while she did have two wins, “a bad sinus infection, probably from the stress of what had happened and living in and out of hospital for two weeks” didn’t make things any easier.

She said: “I have had to deal with a lot of speculation and questions about her health and even put an end to rumors that she has died.

“It wasn’t necessarily the funniest Wimbledon experience I remember.”

At the time of writing the article, Jessica said Kim is still recovering.

She explained, “She is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory problems.

“She can read, write and understand fairly well, but has trouble finding the right words to reply.”

Calling Kim someone who has broken “a lot of barriers” and “the shift in the culture, positivity and heartbeat of a lot of employees” at both the Bills and the Sabers, Jessica admitted that part of her mother’s life likely has come to an end.

She wrote: “She lived it and loved it and everyone she met felt it.

“Now we come to the realization that all of that is most likely gone. That she can’t be that person anymore.”

Back home in Buffalo, Kim continues to make strides forward, but “where she ends up is still unknown.”

Luckily, “she watches the Bills, Sabers, and my tennis games.

“She has never watched my games because she got too nervous. Now she watches them all.”

Jessica bade farewell by thanking the medical professionals involved, “the Buffalo community,” and everyone else who “respected privacy and have shown tremendous support to me and my family throughout this ongoing journey.”

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