On Tuesday Jessica Pegula released a story on The Players Tribune, a website for current and retired athletes to tell their stories which was started by ex-New York Yankee Derek Jeter.
She reveals that her mother last year suffered a heart attack while asleep one night. Pegula says her family has been dealing with the medical problem for the past year as she explains how it has affected her life on tour.
The story titled ” I want to talk to you about my mom” was an idea for her to come out and tell the world what actually happened back in January at the Australian Open.
” I texted my husband, Taylor, that the situation with my mom was weighing on me. When can we start talking about it? When can I tell her story, my story, my family’s story? Everyone just keeps asking me. I really need to get it off my chest,” Pegula wrote.
It all started back in June 2022 when Pegula had flown back to Florida after playing two solid weeks of Tennis at the French Open. She explained how a few days later on her mom’s birthday she received a call that ended up having a major impact on her family.
“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,” Pegula recounted. “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”.
Recently Pegula’s sister Kelly took a CPR certification class for a new job and in a family group chat her mom was quoted as saying “Nice Kells! Now if we have a heart attack you can revive us.”
Luckily for the Pegula family, the doctors at the hospital figured out what was wrong but the issue now was how would the recovery go and if the heart attack had affected her brain.
The Buffalo native explains how the family came together and literally spent two weeks at the hospital taking care of her mother and details how the ordeal took its toll.
” We lived in that hospital for basically two weeks. We took shifts, we brought each other food, we knew all the nurses and doctors, we even knew their schedules,” she said. “We had to force my dad to go home and sleep, but most of the time he didn’t. He would go sit in his car to get away or come to my house. He didn’t want to go back to their house unless my mom was back with him. When they say one day in the hospital equals a week to recover, that is no joke. We were all mentally and physically exhausted”.
The second-week Pegula decided to get back to training because she felt she needed to focus on something else and already decided she would skip the grass season but wanted to play at Wimbledon.
Kim (Pegula’s mom) made gradual improvements and after a week was moved out of the ICU and into an in-patient care facility. Most doctors said it was a miracle she recovered.
Pegula played Wimbledon and ended up getting a sinus infection but she was happy she scored a few good wins and was able to go out and compete at the tournament.
She gave an update on how her mother is doing today and while she is doing way better she still has some ill effects.
” Today, my mom is still in recovery and although it is the same answer every time someone asks me, it is true, she is improving every day. She 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 to. 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. The doctors continue to be blown away by her recovery, considering where she started, and her determination is the driving force of that”.
The Pegula family owns both the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Sabres. Kim before the heart attack was the president and Pegula details how her mom loved her job.
“She loved to work. She did everything and our family constantly told her how she needs to slow down and take time for herself. She was the woman behind my dad’s success and my dad would happily admit that. She jumped into this journey with him and learned many lessons along the way, breaking a lot of barriers. She was the shift in culture, positivity, and the heartbeat of many of the employees. She gave everyone so much of her time and effort. 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”.
Pegula mentions how her mom wanted her to run the family business and think of a life after tennis but Pegula was always ready to help and take on more responsibility.
” 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”.
In November 2022 Pegula went to Guadalajara, Mexico, and won her first WTA 1000 title and tells the story of how before the final how she was in tears before the match.
” I was uncontrollably crying in the locker room. I am not a big crier, but I cried. It wasn’t even sad tears, it was almost happy because I just had this feeling I was going to win. In my acceptance speech, I dedicated it to my mom. I wanted her to know that even after a terrible six months, I still fought every day because of her.“
Then in January, the Buffalo Bills were playing the Cincinnati Bengals when Damar Hamlin a Bills safety suffered a heart attack on the field and the news came back to Pegula and hit her hard.
” My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again. I was sitting on the bench for a tennis event in Sydney, Australia. I wanted to throw up. I was supposed to go on for mixed doubles in 15 minutes and I remember telling one of my teammates, “I am a little freaked out right now, this is too close to home, and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack.”
Entering the Australian Open Pegula wore a patch with the number 3 ironically being ranked number three in the world at that time and the attention it raised was nothing but a positive outpouring that she appreciated.
A positive Pegula sees with her mom at home resting and recovering is being able to watch her teams play not to mention her daughter’s tennis matches.
” Thankful that she is now home, that she gets to watch the Bills, Sabres, and my tennis matches. She never watched my matches before, because she got too nervous. Now she watches all of them”.
She finished her story by thanking the people of Buffalo for all the love and support she has received not just for her but for her entire family.
” Thank you to the Buffalo community for your patience. I know you have wanted answers and it took us a while to get there but it finally felt like it was time. Thank you to everyone who has respected privacy and shown me and my family tremendous support throughout this ongoing journey”.
