Mary Lou Retton gives update on her health: 'They still don't know what's wrong with me'
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" 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.
Mary Lou Retton's daughters have been crucial in her recovery
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 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.”
The update came nearly three weeks after Retton — who became a tour de force in the world of '80s gymnastics as a teen — was first reported by her daughters to be in crisis.
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.
In the weeks after, Retton's daughters kept followers up to date on her continuing fight and thanked them for their continued support.
Read on for information about Retton and her health.
How is Mary Lou Retton doing?
Retton told "Entertainment Tonight" in story published May 22 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."
She previously wrote that she was "slowly improving" in a Thanksgiving update. About a month earlier, in an Oct. 23 Instagram post, her daughter McKenna Kelley shared that she was home after spending about a month in the hospital.
"Mom is HOME & in recovery mode," McKenna Kelley wrote at the time. "We still have a long road ahead of us, but baby steps. We are overwhelmed with the love and support from everyone. Grateful doesn't scrape the surface of the posture of our hearts."
"Thank you Jesus, thank you doctors & 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. She shares all four daughters with former University of Texas quarterback Shannon Kelley, whom she divorced in 2018, according to People.
The news of her being discharged from the hospital came just four days after Schrepfer said in an Instagram video that Retton had experienced "a scary setback" as she continued to recover from pneumonia in the hospital.
"At the beginning of this week, we were going on the up and up," she said. "We were so excited, seeing so much progress, and then yesterday we had a pretty scary setback. She is still in ICU, and we’re just working through 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, really exhausted."
She ended her video message by thanking her followers and her mother's fans for their support. "I'm getting so many messages and emails and it's so great to see people love on her," she added.
Earlier in the week, Schrepfer had shared “uplifting news” about her mother.
“Although she remains in the ICU, her path to recovery is steadily unfolding,” she said. “Her fighting spirit is truly shining! Her breathing is becoming stronger, and her reliance on machines is diminishing. Though it’s a lengthy journey, witnessing these improvements is incredibly heartening!”
Schrepfer said that her mother has been responding “so well” to treatments and thanked her followers for “overwhelming love and support.”
Three days prior, Schrepfer let fans know that Retton was "still fighting" in a video posted to Instagram.
“It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you got to respect her boundaries as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now," Schrepfer said. "She’s been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her. So please continue the prayers and we cannot thank you enough for the love and support that you guys have shown.”
She also thanked everyone "for all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom. My sisters and I are overwhelmed. We’re overwhelmed."
“We didn’t even realize that so many people out there love her just as much as we do," Schrepfer continued. "It’s been a really hard time for our family. And so just seeing that people love her like that 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 y’all for all of the love and support. God is good! She’s the strongest woman we know, and He is resilient and has His hands around during time of battle."
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 Mom. Mom is in ICU and continues to fight. She is getting incredible medical care! Thank you to all the doctors and nurses! We ask for continued prayers and positive thoughts for our Mom.”
TODAY's Morgan Chesky reported on Oct. 12 that Retton was able to text earlier in the week, corresponding with her former "Dancing With the Stars" partner, Sasha Farber.
What is Mary Lou Retton's illness?
Mary Lou Retton's condition is a rare form of pneumonia, and she was receiving treatment in the ICU, daughters Emma Jean Kelley and McKenna Kelley shared on Oct. 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 mom continue to fight,” Emma Jean Kelley’s story read. “Anything helps.”
The link to the Spotfund page read in part: "My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. She is not able to breathe on her own. She’s been in the ICU for over a week now. Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not disclose all details."
The campaign amassed more than $500,000.
Mary Lou Retton does not have medical insurance
The Spotfund page created for Mary Lou Retton noted that she does not have medical insurance.
"We ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill," the post continued. "ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y’all so very 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 Olympics, which was held in Los Angeles that year, including a gold for her performance in the individual all-around competition.
At the Games, Retton became the first woman in U.S. history to win the Olympic all-around gold medal, and she was later featured on the front of the Wheaties cereal box.
She would appear on the box three times, according to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, a feat which the organization once noted put her in an “elite group of athletes.”
Though she retired in 1986, Retton was pulled back into the spotlight of competitive gymnastics due to the 2016 USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal. Although they were not implicated, her former coaches, Bela Karolyi and Márta Károlyi, were criticized for their role in fostering an environment for convicted sex offender Larry Nassar to 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 speak about growing up with a history-making mom.
“I don’t think I understood the enormity of what she did and the groundbreaking gymnastics that she did at the time,” Kelley said at the time. “To me, she’s just Mom.”
Retton also appeared during the interview and offered advice to girls eager to become gymnasts too.
“They absolutely need to start at the ground level and build back up,” she said. “A culture of acceptance, a culture of safety. These girls have to feel safe.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
