Seven months after being hospitalized with a serious illness, legend of Olympic gymnastics Mary Lou Retton said her doctors “still don’t know exactly” what disease continues to attack her lungs.
Retton, 56, told “Entertainment Tonight” that she still has to breathe through oxygen tubes in her nose every day as she continues to recover.
“They still don’t know what’s going on with me,” she said. “They call it a rare form of pneumonia.”
The retired gymnast spent about a month in intensive care in October 2023 and said she suffered permanent damage.
“My lungs are quite damaged and will remain that way forever,” she said.
“I’m not really a depressed person, but this experience really changed me (mentally), and I’ve struggled with that,” she said.
However, she has tried to maintain a positive attitude.
“I have a lot to look forward to, and I know it,” she said.
Mary Lou Retton’s daughters have been crucial to her recovery
After Retton left the hospital, her daughters shared life updates with their mother.
In an update on her condition on Thanksgiving 2023, Retton wrote on Instagram that her heart was “overflowing with deep gratitude” that she was “slowly improving.”
About a month earlier, on October 30, she shared her first statement on Instagram since being hospitalized for pneumonia.
“I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to make this statement,” she wrote in her post on her personal account. “I am overwhelmed by all the love and support in the world as I fight. I am forever grateful to all of you!”
“I am slowly recovering with my family and remain very positive as I know this recovery is a long and slow process,” Retton continued her post.
“I appreciate everyone’s respect for my privacy at this time. When the time is right, I will share more information about my health issues and I hope I can help others who may be facing the same struggles I am. I love you all. – MLR.”
The update came almost three weeks after Retton – who became a tour de force in the world of ’80s gymnastics as a teenager – was first reported by her daughters to be in crisis.
Retton’s daughters revealed that on October 10, 2023, she was in the ICU with pneumonia “fighting for her life.” At the time, Retton’s daughters asked for financial support on a crowdfunding page, explaining that Retton had no health insurance. .
In the weeks that followed, Retton’s daughters kept their followers updated on her ongoing battle and thanked them for their continued support.
Read on for information about Retton and her health.
How’s Mary Lou Retton?
Retton told “Entertainment Tonight” in a story published May 22 that her health issues have been “difficult.”
“Give me a hip to rehabilitate, give me a shoulder,” she said. “The lungs are a different beast.”
She previously wrote that she was “slowly improving” in a Thanksgiving update. About a month earlier, her daughter McKenna Kelley said in an Oct. 23 Instagram post that she was home after spending about a month in the hospital.
“Mom is HOME and in recovery mode,” McKenna Kelley wrote at the time. “We have a long road ahead of us, but baby steps. We are overwhelmed by the love and support from everyone. Grateful does not scrape the surface of the attitude of our hearts.”
“Thank you Jesus, thank you doctors and nurses, thank you to this loving community of support,” she concluded.
Retton is also mother to daughters Shayla Schrepfer, Skyla Kelley and Emma Jean Kelley. According to People, she shares all four daughters with former University of Texas quarterback Shannon Kelley, whom she divorced in 2018.
News of her being released from the hospital came just four days after Schrepfer said in an Instagram video that Retton experienced “a scary setback” as she continued to recover from pneumonia in the hospital.
“Early this week we were going further and further,” she said. “We were so excited and seeing so much progress, and yesterday we had a pretty scary setback. She is still in intensive care and we are still processing some things as far as her setback goes.”
“She had a better day today, which is great,” Schrepfer continued, adding that her mother was “just really exhausted.”
She ended her video message by thanking her followers and her mother’s fans for their support. “I get so many messages and emails and it’s so great to see people loving her,” she added.
Earlier this week, Schrepfer had shared “uplifting news” about her mother.
“Although she remains in intensive care, her path to recovery is steadily unfolding,” she said. “Her fighting spirit really shines! Her breathing becomes stronger and her dependence on machines decreases. Although it is a long journey, it is incredibly encouraging to witness these improvements!”
Schrepfer said her mother responded “so well” to treatments and thanked her followers for “overwhelming love and support.”
Three days earlier, Schrepfer informed fans that Retton was “still fighting” in a video posted to Instagram.
“It will be a day-by-day process, and we hope you will respect her boundaries as we want to keep the details between her and our family for now,” Schrepfer said. “She has been treated with the best care. the best professionals here, and it was such a blessing to have her hands on. So please continue to pray and we cannot thank you enough for the love and support you have shown.”
She also thanked everyone “for all the love and support you have given to my mother. My sisters and I are overwhelmed. We are overwhelmed.”
“We didn’t even know that so many people love her as much as we do,” Schrepfer continued. “It has been a very difficult time for our family. And so just seeing people love her so much and showing her that support has just meant the world to us and to her. So thank you.”
A day after first announcing their mother’s illness, Skyla Kelley and McKenna Kelley thanked fans for their support on Oct. 11.
Skyla Kelley wrote, “Thank you all for all the love and support. God is good! She is the strongest woman we know, and He is resilient and has His hands around in times of struggle.”
McKenna Lane Kelley added: “My sisters Skyla, Shayla and Emma and I would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support for our mother. Mother is in intensive care and continues to fight. She is receiving incredible medical care! Thank you to all doctors and nurses! We ask for continued prayers and positive thoughts for our mother.”
TODAY’s Morgan Chesky reported on Oct. 12 that Retton was seen texting earlier this week, in correspondence with her former “Dancing With the Stars” partner, Sasha Farber.
What is Mary Lou Retton’s Disease?
Mary Lou Retton’s condition is a rare form of pneumonia and she was being treated in the intensive care unit, daughters Emma Jean Kelley and McKenna Kelley shared on October 10, 2023, asking social media users for support.
The two sisters shared a link to the crowdfunding site Spotfund on their Instagram stories, and one of her daughters confirmed her illness to NBC News.
“Please help my mother keep fighting,” Emma Jean Kelley’s story read. “Everything helps.”
The link to the Spotfund page read in part: “My amazing mother, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. She cannot breathe on her own. She has been in the intensive care unit for over a year. From “Respecting her and her privacy, I will not release all the details now.”
The campaign raised more than $500,000.
Mary Lou Retton has no health insurance
The Spotfund page created for Mary Lou Retton states that she has no health insurance.
“We ask that if you could help in any way, that you 1) PRAY! and 2) if you can help us finance the hospital bill,” the post continued. “Anything, absolutely anything, would be so helpful to my family and my mother. Thank you so much!”
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said it is working to provide assistance to Retton’s family through its relief fund.
“Please know that our hearts are with Mary Lou,” the committee said in a statement to NBC News.
Retton represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics at the age of 16
Retton won five medals at the 1984 Olympic Games, held that year in Los Angeles, including gold for her performance in the individual all-around competition.
At the Games, Retton became the first woman in American history to win the Olympic all-around gold medal, and she later appeared on the front of the Wheaties cereal box.
According to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, she would appear on the box three times, a feat that the organization once noted placed her in an “elite group of athletes.”
Although she retired in 1986, Retton was drawn back into the spotlight of competitive gymnastics due to the 2016 USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal. Although not involved, her former coaches, Bela Karolyi and Márta Károlyi, were criticized for their role in creating an environment in which convicted sex offender Larry Nassar could operate.
Who are Mary Lou Retton’s daughters?
Shayla Kelley Schrepfer is a bodybuilder and alumna of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. According to her Instagram profile, she is a National Physique Committee competitor. McKenna Lane Kelley previously practiced gymnastics at Louisiana State University. Skyla Kelley attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Emma Jean Kelley is currently a gymnast at the University of Arkansas.
In 2019, McKenna appeared on TODAY to talk about growing up with a history-making mother.
“I don’t think I understood the enormity of what she did and the groundbreaking gymnastics she did at the time,” Kelley said at the time. “To me she’s just a mom.”
Retton also appeared during the interview and gave advice to girls who wanted to become gymnasts as well.
“They absolutely need to start at ground level and then build back up,” she said. “A culture of acceptance, a culture of safety. These girls need to feel safe.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
