Mary Lou Retton Gives Health Update After Battling Rare Pneumonia: 'I'm a Fighter'

Mary Lou Retton is telling her story of recovery following a  life-threatening battle with a rare form of pneumonia.

The former Olympic gymnast sat down with Today's Hoda Kotb to speak out publicly for the first time since her month-long stint in the hospital and harrowing recovery.

Joined by her daughter, Shayla Kelley, the 55-year-old athlete did the interview with the support of an oxygen tube, and expressed what it felt like to have so much support from fans.

"I just thought I was a washed-up old athlete," Retton told Kotb. "But the love is touching to me. Now that I'm alive and I made it through, there were so many more positives than negatives."

Retton and Kelley shared that the day before her hospitalization, they got their nails done. While there wasn't a major issue, Retton said that she noticed trouble with her breathing, but chalked it up to being in her mid-50s.

However, things took a turn the next day, when Retton was supposed to join her daughters for a football game and never showed up. Instead, she shared that she was on her bedroom floor, fighting for her life, until a neighbor -- who noticed an open car door in her driveway -- came inside and saved her life.

"I couldn't breath. I couldn't take that big deep breath," Retton said as she tried to demonstrate. "I still can't."

Retton shared that when she arrived at the emergency room, she had a "bad" experience.

"I wasn't being treated," she shared.

"It wasn't taken as seriously that I think that it was," Kelley said.

A few days later, Retton was sent home, and that's when things took a turn. Kelley revealed that she found her mother unresponsive, and rushed her to another medical center -- which they chose not to name. It was there, Retton's daughters were told to prepare to say their goodbyes.

"They were saying their goodbyes to me, I'm so sorry," Retton tearfully shared.

"I just remember loving on you and giving you a hug," Kelley tearfully told her mother about the painful moment. "And Mckenna kept saying things like, 'It's OK, you can go.'"

In addition to worrying about her mother's survival, Kelley and her sisters, McKenna, Emma and Skyla, didn't want their mother to worry about the cost of her medical care, so they set up the Spot Fund account, revealing that the decorated athlete did not have health insurance. Supporters raised over $450,000 to support her care.

"I've had over 30 operations orthopedic stuff, I couldn't afford it," Retton explained why she didn't have health insurance. "I couldn't afford it. But who would even know that this would even happen to me?"

She added, "Life goes on, things happen and I just wasn't able to do it. I'm all set now."

A month into her treatment, doctors took a chance by giving Retton a dose of high flow oxygen into her nose, and it worked.

"She's a fighter," Kelley said of her mother's remarkable recovery. "She's the one in a million that wins the Olympics, but she's also the one in a million who will get a rare form of pneumonia and make it through."

Retton left the hospital, after successfully walking the halls with her oxygen tank in tow, and was home for the holidays.

"Christmas was here," she said through tears. "I'm not great yet, cause I know it's going to be a really long road. I don't know how long I'll  indefinitely need the oxygen, but you have no idea how blessed and how grateful I was for this holiday season."

Retton will remain optimistic and continue to be a fighter as she faces the long road to a full recovery.

"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," she told Kotb. "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."

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