Mary Lou Retton says she ‘faced death in the eyes’ in battle with pneumonia

US Olympic gymnastics gold medalist tells of contracting rare form of disease last October in first TV interview

The US Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton has said she “face[d] death in the eyes” after a battle with pneumonia last year sent her to the hospital.

The former gymnast’s remarks about her health scare came on Monday during her first interview since the episode, with the Today show’s Hoda Kotb.

“I am 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 told Kotb while wearing a nasal cannula, which supplies extra oxygen.

In October, Retton’s daughters announced she was hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia.

Retton, 55, was getting her nails done with one of her daughters the day before she was hospitalized. They were excited because they were preparing to watch the boyfriend of Retton’s other daughter play in a college football game.

But in the nail salon, Retton became very tired, she said.

Retton’s daughter Shayla Schrepfer, who joined in the interview with Kotb, said her mother became very out of breath.

The next day, things got worse.

“I was literally laying on my bedroom floor and said, ‘I can’t do this,’” Retton said. “I didn’t know what was wrong with me.”

Luckily, a neighbor noticed a car door was open on Retton’s driveway. The neighbor walked inside the home to notify Retton, who was on the floor. The neighbor immediately took Retton to the emergency room at a local hospital.

“She pretty much saved my life,” Retton said of her neighbor.

At the hospital, Schrepfer said staffers were not taking her mother’s condition seriously. And her mother was sent home a few days later.

Schrepfer found Retton unresponsive the next day.

This time, Schrepfer rushed Retton to a larger hospital. The staff at that hospital admitted Retton to the intensive care unit after discovering her oxygen levels had dropped dangerously low.

But her condition was still unknown.

“She was tested for everything,” Schrepfer said.

After testing negative for Covid-19, the flu and other respiratory illnesses, doctors still did not know what was wrong with Retton. But they were concerned that an X-ray had shown her lungs to be white.

Retton’s medical team said she would have to be placed on a ventilator.

Schrepfer said doctors told her to notify her sister immediately because her mother would soon be on life support.

“They were saying their goodbyes to me,” Retton said.

Schrepfer said to her mother: “I just remember loving on you and giving you a hug.”

But one doctor decided to try using a breathing apparatus aimed at helping raise Retton’s oxygen levels. The idea prevented Retton from being placed on the ventilator, and her family had hope.

Retton’s family’s problems did not end there. Still not knowing whether her mother would live or die, Schrepfer recalled another fear: accumulating debt that would be owed to the hospitals caring for her mother, especially since Retton did not have health insurance.

“That’s the bottom line – I couldn’t afford it,” Retton said. “Can you believe that?”

Schrepfer said she remembers thinking: “If she pulls through, the last thing we want her to have to think about is paying off these [medical] bills.”

Retton’s daughters set up an online fundraiser to help with the medical debt.

The fundraiser’s message read: “On behalf of my sisters and I, we need y’all’s help. 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. However, I will disclose that she is not insured … ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y’all so very much!”

Retton’s family announced on 23 October that she had been released from the hospital. Her fundraiser beat its goal of $50,000 and raised $459,324.

Schrepfer said of Retton: “She’s the one in a million who wins the Olympics. She’s also the one in a million that will get some rare form of pneumonia – you have no idea what it is, but she’ll make it through.”

Retton in 1984 became the first US woman to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics in gymnastics. She was also the first US woman to win the gymnastics all-around competition at the Olympics.

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