Google News Jessica Pegula: My mom went into cardiac arrest, sister administered life-saving CPR
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 8163
Jessica Pegula revealed her mother Kim suffered a cardiac arrest last June and it was her sister Kelly's life-saving CPR that ultimately saved her mother's life. In the summer, it was reported that Pegula's mother was in ICU but the American tennis star declined to reveal any details.
"In June 2022, I had just flown back to Florida from the French Open. I made the quarterfinals in singles and the finals in doubles. It was an amazing two weeks full of a lot of positives, including cracking the Top 10 in the world.
A few days after I got home, I got a call around midnight (on my mom’s birthday) from my sister Kelly who was staying at my parents’ house. Something was wrong with our mom, and she was headed to the hospital in an ambulance.
My mom was asleep when my dad woke up to her going into cardiac arrest and she was unresponsive for quite a while. My sister gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived. She saved her life. Even though she doesn’t like to take credit for this terrible situation, she absolutely saved her life, followed by the critical job performed by the paramedics who arrived and were able to restore a heartbeat," Pegula wrote in her piece for The Players' Tribune.
Pegula thought her career might be over
The Pegula family owns NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres and Kim Pegula was the one who used to operate the business side of the things. Even though Kim Pegula is making progress every day, unfortunately she still is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues.
In her piece for The Players' Tribune, Pegula revealed her mother "always wanted" to have her succeed her in operating the businesses. After Kim Pegula suffered a major health scare, tennis was secondary and 28-year-old Jessica started thinking if that was the end of her pro tennis journey.
"Suddenly, I went from 'Let’s celebrate top 10 in the world' to 'Do I need to start thinking about my career after tennis a lot sooner than I thought?' 'Does my dad and family need help?' 'Maybe I should just go back to school and work for the family.'
I am 28 and I take pride in being able to handle every situation thrown at me, but this was A LOT," Pegula added.