BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On June 14, 2022, the Buffalo Bills shared that Bills and Sabres owner and president Kim Pegula was receiving medical care for "unexpected health issues." In the weeks and months that followed, the Pegulas have remained largely private about her recovery.
That desire for privacy sparked speculation from Bills fans, something Pegula's daughter, Jessica Pegula recalls having to deal with at Wimbledon in an emotionally open article she penned for The Players' Tribune.The article, published Tuesday morning, is titled 'I Want to Talk to You About My Mom.'
Jessica Pegula describes her father, Bills and Sabres co-owner Terry Pegula, waking up to find Kim Pegula in cardiac arrest. Her sister, Kelly, who had just received CPR certification a few months prior, performed CPR until an ambulance came to transport Kim to a hospital.
"Our concern had now moved from cardiac arrest to a brain injury," Pegula writes.
Kim Pegula spent a week in the ICU, then moved to an in-patient care facility. Since then, she continues to be in recovery, and Pegula says doctors are "blown away" by her progress.
However, Pegula has ongoing symptoms that have made performing her role as president of two professional sports teams in the manner she had in the past no longer possible.
"She lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met. Now we come to the realization that all of that is most likely gone. That she won’t be able to be that person anymore," Jessica Pegula writes.
Pegula describes her mother experiencing "significant expressive aphasia," a condition affecting the ability to produce language. However, people who experience aphasia often continue to be able to understand verbal and written communication. In Kim's case, Jessica describes her mother being able to read and write, and to understand what others are saying to her.
"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," Pegula writes.
Kim Pegula's cardiac arrest and recovery happened more than six months before Buffalo Bills cornerback Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the football field during a game in Cincinnati. The experience was a difficult one to witness for Jessica Pegula, who wore a number 3 patch in honor of Hamlin at the 2023 Australian Open, adding in the article, "it felt like it was for my mom as well."
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