Mary Lou Retton Opens Up About Recovery from Rare Form of Pneumonia That Left Her in the ICU: 'I'm a Fighter'

"I have no idea what the future holds for me," the Olympic champion said, "But I will never give up, it’s not in me"

Mary Lou Retton may be on the mend now, but last fall she was "fighting for her life" after a battle with rare form pneumonia sent her to the ICU. 

In her first interview since news of her health condition made headlines, the former gymnast and Olympic champion, 55, spoke out about her health scare that took her and everyone around her by surprise, telling NBC News' Hoda Kotb that she's embracing every day.

"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," Retton she said in an interview from her home in Boerne, Texas, that aired on Monday's episode of the Today show.

She went on give an update about her recovery, saying that she has no plans to back down.

"I mean, when you face death in the eyes? I have so much to look forward to," said Retton. "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." 

Retton's on-camera comments come months after her daughters — Shayla Schrepfer, McKenna Kelley, Skyla Kelley and Emma Kelley — first shared news of their mom's illness with the public, noting in a post on Oct. 10, 2023 that their mother was in the ICU with "a very rare form of pneumonia."

Schrepfer told PEOPLE at the time that her family’s priority was "the well-being of our mom."

Doctors had diagnosed her with the illness after testing for COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), determined to figure out what was causing Retton's health troubles. "She was tested for everything," Schrepfer, who sat with her mother for the Today interview, told Kotb. "Everything negative."

"I've never had a lung issue in my life," a baffled Retton added, marveling at how X-rays were "completely white," with her lungs unable to be seen.

Related: Mary Lou Retton's Daughter Shares Pictures from the Hospital as She Reflects on 'Hardest Year'

She first noticed she wasn't feeling well the day before, while sitting with Schrepfer for a mother-daughter manicure to prep for a "girls trip" to Dallas to see Emma's boyfriend play in a football game. "I was feeling tired, but I'm thinking, 'I turned 56 this month,' " she recalled. "I was not out of breath."

While Schrepfer remembered her mom saying, "I just can't keep my eyes open. I am so tired," she didn't think anything off it at the time. She explained that her mom is "like a little pistol." But the next morning, Retton never showed up to game.

"I couldn’t. I literally was laying on my bedroom floor and I said, ‘I can’t do this,' " she told Kotb. "I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I couldn't breath. You know how you want to...take that big deep breath? I couldn't do it. I still can't do it!"

Luckily, a neighbor noticed a car door left open in Retton's driveway. “She came in the house, she knows my code, and saw me and found me. Pretty much saved my life," the athlete said. "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."

Retton was taken to a local hospital, where she was admitted and diagnosed with pneumonia. But a few days later, she was sent home. "It was a bad experience. I wasn’t being treated," Retton said, with Schrepfer adding, "It wasn't being taken as seriously as it was."

At home, Retton's health quickly deteriorated. "Things just went south really, really fast," said Schrepfer said, who discovered her mother almost unresponsive the next day and brought her to a bigger hospital in a nearby city, where she was immediately admitted to the ICU.

Her pulse oximeter level, which measures the amount of oxygen circulating in the blood, was in the 70s, she said — far from the typical 95% to 100% range.

Retton's levels continued to plummet over the next week. Things got so bad that her medical team considering putting her on a ventilator for "life support," and advised Schrepfer to "prepare for the worst."

"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,' " Schrepfer recalled to Today. "And so McKenna and I, put her hands on her and we said a prayer."

"They were saying their goodbyes to me," an emotional Retton said.

In a last ditch idea, with one more breathing apparatus failing, doctors decided to pump high-flow oxygen through her nose. It helped rise her levels enough that she didn't need to go on a ventilator.

Related: Mary Lou Retton Celebrates First Christmas Since Health Scare with Photo of Her Four Daughters

After a month in the hospital, her lungs began to heal enough that she was able to go home for the holidays. Retton shared her first official update on her health and ongoing recovery about one week later.

"I'm with family continuing to slowly recover and staying very positive as I know this recovery is a long and slow process," she posted to Instagram, continuing that she hoped to one day "help others who may face the same battle as me."

Since her daughters shared her story, fans have offered a swell of support to Retton — something she told Kotb in her Today interview fuels her.

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

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