Mary Lou Retton Says She Had to ‘Face Death in the Eyes’ Amid Health Battle

Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton is giving fans an update on her health after she was admitted to the ICU last fall.

The 56-year-old was hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia that left her “fighting for her life.”

Retton, her daughter Shayla Kelley Schrepfer by her side,  opened up to “Today” show host Hoda Kotb about her health and her long road to recovery.

"I’m not great yet, I know it’s going to be a really long road — I don’t know how long, I may indefinitely need oxygen — but you have no idea how blessed and how grateful I was for this holiday season," she said from her home in Texas.

She continued, "I mean, when you face death in the eyes? I have so much to look forward to. I’m a fighter and I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give up. I have no idea what the future holds for me. I don’t know if I’m going to have lasting issues with my lungs. They don’t know. I wish I had answers. But I will never give up, it’s not in me."

Hoda asked if she is still in a “vulnerable state” and the athlete replied, “Very much so.”

Retton explained she’s usually very “private,” and her interviews are typically lighthearted, saying that in contrast, “This is serious and this is life. I'm so grateful to be here. I am blessed to be here, because there was a time when they were about to put me on life support."

Retton said leading up to the pneumonia she had “never had a lung issue in my life," but when the X-rays came back, they were “completely white,” and her lungs weren’t distinguishable, indicating overwhelming disease.

Mary Lou began feeling ill in October just as she was planning to leave on a girls’ trip with her daughter Shayla to see a football game in Dallas.

She was having her nails done and recalled, "I was feeling tired, but I'm thinking, 'I turned 56 this month.’ I was out of breath."

Schrepfer said her mom was “so tired” and couldn’t keep her eyes open, but she thought she would bounce back.

The next day, however, Mary Lou missed the game. "I couldn’t,” she said. “I literally was laying on my bedroom floor and I said, ‘I can’t do this.’ I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I couldn't breathe. You know how you want to... take that big deep breath? I couldn't do it. I still can't do it!"

She credits a neighbor for rescuing her that day. A car door happened to be left open in the driveway and the neighbor, who knew her code, came right into the house to check on things.

Retton said the woman “saw me and found me. Pretty much saved my life. I was, I don't know, what did she say? White, blue — I don’t even remember it. I remember them coming in, but that’s pretty much it."

She was admitted to a hospital but released, and Schrepfer said, "took a turn" saying her mom was found almost unresponsive the next day. That’s when she was admitted to the ICU at a bigger hospital nearby.

Her oxygen levels were so dangerously low that doctors considered putting her on life support.

Shayla recalled speaking with a doctor. "She told me, 'You need to get your sister here, because we don't know if she's going to make it through the night.’ And so, McKenna and I put our hands on her and we said a prayer."

Retton became emotional, adding, "They were saying their goodbyes to me.”

Thankfully, doctors tried pumping high-flow oxygen through her nose, and it was enough to keep her off a ventilator.

She’s also thankful for the support she has received, saying, "I just thought I was a washed-up old athlete, but the love touched me. Now that I'm alive and I made it through, there’s so many more positives than negatives."

Many fans donated to a GoFundMe to help cover her medical costs. Mary Lou explained why she didn't have insurance, saying, “When COVID hit and after my divorce, and all my pre-existing — I’ve had over 30 operations of orthopedic stuff — I couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t afford it. But who would even know that this was going to happen to me? That’s the bottom line, I couldn’t afford it.”

Retton was a household name in the 1980s. She took home gold in gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics, making history as the first American woman to win the all-around gold. The athlete also earned two silver medals and two bronze that year.

Her performance earned her the title of Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year, and her face appeared on a Wheaties box. After winning the American Cup all-around competition for the third time in 1985, she retired in 1986.