Jessica Pegula opens up on mum’s cardiac arrest as sister saved her life

07 February 2023 , 20:36

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Jessica Pegula in action (Image: Getty Images)

Jessica Pegula has bravely opened up on her mum's cardiac arrest, which saw her sister Kelley save her life. Pegula wrote about the terrifying ordeal for The Players Tribune, revealing it happened just after her impressive showing at last year's French Open.

The American star enjoyed a successful few weeks at Roland Garros, reaching the quarter-finals of the singles draw, and making the final of the women's doubles alongside fellow American Coco Gauff.

Pegula and her partner Gauff ended up missing out on the title to French duo Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets.

The 28-year-old still left the French capital with a feeling of positivity about her game, despite losing at the final stage. This mood however quickly changed after receiving the news that her mum had gone into cardiac arrest.

Pegula's mother Kim has a sporting background of he own and is the co-owner and president of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, along with her father Terry.

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Detailing how she found out, Pegula wrote: "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.

Jessica Pegula with her mum Kim (The Players' Tribune)

"My mom was asleep when my dad woke up to her going into cardiac arrest and she was unresponsive for quite a while." Luckily Pegula's sister Kelly was on hand to aid her mother, and performed CPR which ended up saving her life.

The tennis star added: "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."

Remarkably, Pegula admitted that just three months earlier, sister Kelly told her she was going for a CPR certification for a job, which ended up being one of her most important life decisions.

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"Now, rewind to about three months before that. Kelly called me one day and said she was going to get her CPR certification as a requirement for a job she wanted," she added.

"I said, 'No way, I have been meaning to do that but haven’t gotten around to it.' She relayed to me how nervous she was about it and hoped she passed the class.

"I remember her telling us what she was doing in our family group chat, and my mom even responded, “Nice Kells! Now if we have a heart attack you can revive us.”

Joshua Lees