Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Kim Pegula is dealing with both speech and memory issues after suffering cardiac arrest last year ... her daughter, Jessica Pegula, revealed on Tuesday.
The tennis star opened up about her mom's health in an emotional piece for The Players' Tribune -- explaining it's been an uphill battle for Kim after she nearly lost her life following a June 2022 medical emergency.
Jessica said she first learned of the issues involving the 53-year-old a few days after she had returned to the U.S. from the French Open last year.
"I got a call around midnight (on my mom’s birthday) from my sister Kelly who was staying at my parents' house," Jessica said. "Something was wrong with our mom, and she was headed to the hospital in an ambulance."
Jessica revealed Kim had gone into cardiac arrest while asleep -- though, thankfully, Kelly performed CPR on her until medics arrived.
"She saved her life," Jessica said of Kelly.
Jessica said her mom went on to spend a week in the ICU ... but after making small improvements with help from her team of doctors, she was moved into an in-patient care facility, where she began talking a little.
Now, Jessica said her mom is steadily improving ... but "she is dealing with significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues."
"She can read, write, and understand pretty well," Jessica said, "but she has trouble finding the words to respond."
"It is hard to deal with," she added, "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."
Jessica says she was in Sydney, Australia last month for a tennis event when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a similar health scare to her mother ... and she said she immediately became sick over it all.
Bills Safety Damar Hamlin Suffered Cardiac Arrest On Field, In Critical Condition
"My stomach sunk because it felt like the exact same thing all over again," Jessica said ... before revealing she told one of her 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."
"Again, I usually don’t get too much anxiety, but the thought of what Damar and his family were about to go through hurt my heart. I knew how important time was. I just kept thinking time, time, time, time. I hope they got him back and quick enough."
Last month, Jessica -- ranked No. 3 in the world at the time -- chose to wear a #3 patch to honor Hamlin at the Australian Open ... and the 28-year-old says she felt like she was honoring her mom, too, since their stories are so similar.