Damar Hamlin reacts to tennis star's post on Bills owner's cardiac arrest

In an essay posted to The Players' Tribune on Tuesday, the fourth-ranked women's tennis player in the world wrote that following Hamlin's cardiac arrest in Week 17 in early January, the situation with her mom was "weighing on" her. She was wondering when she could start talking about what happened, and she needed to "get it off my chest." It was reported last June that the elder Pegula was receiving treatment for "some unexpected health issues," and later that month, she was "progressing well."

The 2023 Australian Open quarterfinalist said that soon after returning home from competing in the 2022 French Open, she received a call "around midnight" on her mom's birthday from her sister Kelly, who was staying with the parents. Jessica Pegula received news that her mother was heading to the hospital after going into cardiac arrest and being unresponsive "for quite a while," and that Kelly had given Kim life-saving CPR.

In a wild coincidence, Kelly Pegula received her CPR certification "about three months" earlier, according to the tennis player's letter. Furthermore, when Jessica Pegula relayed the news in a family group chat (including both Kelly and Kim) the mother replied, “Nice Kells! Now if we have a heart attack you can revive us.”

The 28-year-old (who is the top-ranked American women's tennis player) wrote that her mother's recovery is ongoing, and she ended the essay by thanking "the Buffalo community" and "everyone who has respected privacy and shown me and my family tremendous support throughout this ongoing journey."

Although Hamlin's and the Pegulas' situations were different in many ways, it's stunning how both incidents hit "Bills Mafia" within seven months of each other. Fortunately, the team's co-owner and starting safety seem to be heading in the right direction in their recovery, and some good has come out of an otherwise sad situation.

It was announced last week that the NFL and the American Heart Association are teaming up at Super Bowl LVII to provide a mobile training unit that will offer free hands-only CPR training.