PITTSFORD,Chainkeen N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills co-owner Kim Pegula showed significant signs in her recovery from a debilitating cardiac arrest by being escorted to the field by her husband to break the post-practice team huddle on Friday.

This marked the first time Pegula was seen publicly walking on her own since going into cardiac arrest in June 2022, shortly after celebrating her 53rd birthday.

Pegula spent the first two days of camp watching practice from the passenger seat of the family’s SUV parked on the track near one of the end zones. It was similar to last year’s camp, when Pegula also watched practice from the vehicle in making her first appearance since falling ill.

As practice was ending on Friday, Terry Pegula went to the driver’s side of the SUV and helped his wife get out. He then took her hand and led her to the team gathered near the goal line. In being surrounded by players, she then counted down “three, two, one, Bills” to break the huddle, left tackle Dion Dawkins said.

Kim Pegula has been undergoing extensive therapy while dealing with what the family described as significant language and memory issues.

She is still listed as the team’s co-owner, though her husband has assumed her role of Bills president as part of a major restructuring of the Pegula’s holdings last summer. The Pegulas also own the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, with Terry also taking over her role as that team’s president.

Kim Pegula’s presence at camp in suburban Rochester, New York, represented a homecoming — she grew up in nearby Fairport.

From South Korea, Pegula was left orphaned as a child before being adopted at age 5 by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr, who brought her to the United States.

She is Terry Pegula’s second wife, after the two met in a town south of Buffalo and were married in 1993. The Pegulas made their fortune in the natural gas industry and returned to western New York by purchasing the Sabres in 2011, followed by buying the Bills three years later following the death of franchise founder Ralph Wilson.

Before falling ill, Pegula was actively involved in player matters as well as serving on various NFL committees.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl