Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton appeared in a recent interview where she spoke about the traumatic health scare she experienced last year.
It marks the first time that the 55-year-old has spoken out after facing “death in the eyes” while battling a severe bout of pneumonia last fall.
“I am blessed to be here because there is a time when they were about to put me on life support,” Retton, 55, told Today‘s Hoda Kotb.
Retton, who made history at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, was hospitalized in intensive care in October with a rare form of pneumonia.
One of her four daughters broke the news when they asked fans for donations to help cover the five-time Olympian’s medical bills. Retton’s daughter, McKenna Lane Kelley, claimed she was not insured at the time of her hospitalization.
Kelley stated that her mother had been “fighting for her life” and was “not able to breathe on her own.”
Two weeks after revealing the devastating diagnosis, Retton was released from the hospital.
“I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” Retton recalled, via Entertainment Tonight. After initial hospitalization, she was sent home but faced a drastic decline in oxygen levels, prompting a swift return to the hospital. Retton’s daughter, Shayla Schrepfer, described her mother’s rapid deterioration: “Things just went south really, really fast.”
That night, a doctor had a crucial conversation with three of Retton’s daughters – Schrepfer, McKenna Kelley, and Skyla Kelley. The doctor discussed the possibility of taking the next critical step for Retton’s health. With Emma Jean away at college, the doctor urged the sisters to bring their mother to the hospital that very night, not knowing if she would survive.
“We don’t know if she’s going to make it through the night,” Schrepfer revealed the doctor had said at the time.
Despite the recovery, the cause of Retton’s mysterious illness remains unknown. She tested negative for COVID-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The baffled Olympian, who told Kotb that she had never experienced lung issues before, expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of love and support.
A crowd-funding effort raised more than $459,000 for Retton’s recovery.
We are sending all our best wishes to Mary Lou Retton during these trying times.
