Seven months after she was hospitalized with a serious illness, Olympic gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton said her doctors “still don’t know” exactly what illness continues to affect her lungs.
Retton, 56, told “Entertainment Tonight” in a story published Wednesday that she still needs to breathe from oxygen tubes in her nose every day as she continues her recovery.
“They still don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said. “They’re calling it a rare form of pneumonia.”
The retired gymnast spent about a month in the intensive care unit in October 2023 and said she suffered lasting damage.
“My lungs are pretty scarred up and they’re gonna stay that way forever,” she said.
“I’m not a really depressed person, but this experience really changed me (mentally), and I’ve been struggling with that,” she said.
However, she has tried to keep a positive mindset.
“I have a lot to look forward to, and I know that,” she said.
Retton told “Entertainment Tonight” that her health challenges have “been hard.”
“Give me a hip to rehab, give me a shoulder,” she said. “The lungs are a different beast.”
Retton’s daughters have been crucial in her recovery
Retton’s daughters revealed that she was in the ICU “fighting for her life” with pneumonia on Oct. 10, 2023. At the time, Retton’s daughters asked for financial support in a crowd-funding page, explaining that Retton didn’t have health insurance.
Retton is mother to daughters McKenna Kelley, Shayla Schrepfer, Skyla Kelley and Emma Jean Kelley. She shares all four daughters with former University of Texas quarterback Shannon Kelley, whom she divorced in 2018, according to People.
In the weeks after, her daughters kept followers up to date on her continuing fight and thanked them for their continued support.
After Retton left the hospital, her daughters shared updates about life with their mom.
In an update on her condition on Thanksgiving in 2023, Retton — who became a tour de force in the world of ‘80s gymnastics as a teen — wrote on Instagram that her heart was “overflowing with profound gratitude” that she’d been “slowly improving.”
About a month earlier, on Oct. 30, she shared her first statement on Instagram since being hospitalized for pneumonia.
“I’m beyond blessed to have the opportunity to make this statement,” she wrote in her post shared to her personal account. “I am overwhelmed with all the love and support from the world as I fight. I am forever grateful to you all!”
“I’m with family continuing to slowly recover and staying very positive as I know this recovery is a long and slow process,” Retton continued her post.
“I appreciate everyone’s respect of my privacy at this time. When the time is right, I will be sharing more information about my health issues and hope I can help others who may face the same battle as me. I love you all. — MLR.”
