Mary Lou Retton Shares Health Update After Battle With 'Rare Form Of Pneumonia'
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Legendary Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is on the road to recovery after being hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia in late 2023.
"I'm so grateful to be here. I'm blessed to be here because there was a time when they were about to put me on life support," the former professional athlete said in a new interview with Today host Hoda Kotb about her recent health scare. Mary Lou told Hoda that she was “fighting for her life” and faced “death in the eyes” while spending over a month in the ICU. Her eldest daughter, Shayla Schrepfer, sat by her side as Mary Lou received breathing help from a nasal oxygen tube.
“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,” Mary Lou said in her Today interview. “I don’t know if I’m going to have lasting issues with my lungs. They don’t know.”
Watch Mary Lou Retton and Shayla Schrepfer's interview with Hoda Kotb on Today:
In October 2023, Schrepfer shared that her mom had been diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening case of pneumonia and was unable to breathe on her own in a Spotfund crowdsourcing message.
Mary Lou, 55, made history in 1984 after becoming the first American gymnast to win an individual all-around gold medal, per Olympics.com. She also won silver medals in the vault and team event, and bronze medals in the uneven bars and the floor. In 2018, she competed on Dancing with the Stars at 50 years old, and earned ninth place overall.
But what happened to Mary Lou Retton and how is she doing now? Here’s everything you need to know.
Mary Lou Retton’s neighbor found her on the bedroom floor.
In her interview with Hoda, Mary Lou explained that back in October, she felt tired and out of breath after getting her nails done with her daughter. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. The next day, she was supposed to head to Dallas to meet her daughters at a football game, but wasn’t able to leave her house.
Mary Lou found herself alone, lying on her bedroom floor. She remembers thinking to herself, “'I cannot–I can’t do this.’ I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I couldn’t breathe." Luckily, Mary Lou's neighbor noticed that a car door was left open in her driveway, so she entered the code to Mary Lou’s house and found her.
Reflecting on the situation, Mary Lo said that her neighbor “pretty much saved my life.”
She was taken to the emergency room and diagnosed with pneumonia.
But a few days later, she was discharged from the hospital. Mary Lou told Hoda that "it was a bad experience" because she “wasn’t being treated” at the hospital, and Schrepfer added that her mom's health condition “wasn’t being taken as seriously as it was.”
After Mary Lou was discharged, she was found almost unresponsive the next day.
While recovering at home, Mary Lou wasn’t getting better. “Things just went south really, really fast,” Schrepfer said. She found her mother almost unresponsive the day after she was discharged and brought her to a different hospital in a nearby city. Mary Lou was immediately admitted to the ICU.
Mary Lou's other daughter, McKenna Kelley, said in a Spotfund crowdsourcing message that her mom was uninsured and asked for donations to help pay the mounting medical bills. She also shared that her mom was diagnosed with a “very rare form of pneumonia.”
“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,” she wrote. “ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y’all so very much!”
The fund raised more than $459,300.
Later in Schrepfer's update video, she added: "Thank you guys again for the support. I'm getting so many messages and emails, and it's so great to see people love on her."
Now insured, Mary Lou said in the Today interview, “Life goes on, things happen,” adding, “I’m all set now.”
Mary Lou’s medical team told her family to “prepare for the worst.”
Mary Lou shared with the Today host that her pulse oximeter level (which measures the saturation of oxygen in a person’s blood to give insight on how well the lungs are working, according to Yale Medicine) was in the 70s—the typical range should be around 95 to 100 percent.
Her levels only continued their downward spiral over the next week. Her medical team even considered putting her on a ventilator, and Schrepfer was told to “prepare for the worst.”
On Oct. 18, Schrepfer shared an Instagram update about her mom's health.
"At the beginning of this week, we were going on the up and up," she said on the social media platform. "We were seeing so much progress, and then yesterday we had a pretty scary setback."
In her Today interview, Schrepfer explained that she got Kelley to the hospital quickly because they weren’t sure if Mary Lou was “going to make it through the night.” Her daughters put their hands on their mother and said a prayer.
“They were saying their goodbyes to me,” an emotional Mary Lou shared with Today.
“I just remember loving on you and giving you a hug,” Schrepfer said, “And McKenna kept saying things like: ‘It’s OK, you can go.”
However, Mary Lou's doctors decided to pump high-flow oxygen through her nose with the hope of helping her oxygen levels rise enough to avoid going on a ventilator—and it worked.
She felt "beyond blessed" to share a positive health update on Instagram.
On October 3o, the former Olympian gave her followers an update on her recovery in a text Instagram post. “I'm beyond bless to have the opportunity to make this statement,” she wrote. “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.”
“I appreciate everyone's respect of my privacy at this time,” she continued. “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.
Mary Lou has shared a bit about her recovery progress.
After a month in the hospital, Mary Lou's lungs started to heal enough that she was allowed to spend the holidays at home.
Still, in her interview with Hoda, Mary Lou said, “I’m not great yet [and]... I know it’s going to be a really long road.” She also explained that she’s “a fighter” and that she's “not going to give up.”
What is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is a lower respiratory tract infection that causes the lung’s air sacs (alveoli) to become inflamed, according to the American Lung Association (ALA). The air sacs can fill up with fluid or pus and lead to symptoms like a cough, fever, trouble breathing, and stabbing chest pain, the ALA says.
What are the rare forms of pneumonia?
Bacterial pneumonia—that is, pneumonia caused by bacteria—is the most common form of the condition, the ALA says. However, you can also get pneumonia from a virus.
Less commonly, people can develop pneumonia from a fungus. This is most common in people who have chronic health problems or weakened immune symptoms, the Mayo Clinic says.
Some people will even develop something called aspiration pneumonia, which is when you inhale food, drink, vomit, or saliva into your lungs, per the Mayo Clinic. This is more common if something disturbs your gag reflex, like a brain injury, swallowing problem, or excessive use of alcohol or drugs, the Mayo Clinic says.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of pneumonia can vary, but the ALA says they can include:
A cough that can produce greenish, yellow or even bloody mucus
Fever, sweating and shaking chills
Shortness of breath
Rapid, shallow breathing
Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough
Loss of appetite, low energy, and fatigue
Nausea and vomiting
Confusion
How is pneumonia treated?
Treatment for pneumonia largely depends on the cause, how sick you feel, your age, and any underlying health conditions you may have, the ALA says. If pneumonia is caused by bacteria, doctors will usually prescribe an antibiotic; if it’s viral, you made need an anti-viral medication, per the ALA. Antifungal medications are recommended for fungal pneumonia.
Beyond that, doctors will often have patients take anti-inflammatory medications like NSAIDs for pain and fever, and urge them to drink plenty of fluids and rest, the ALA says.
Why couldn't Mary Lou breathe on her own?
Pneumonia is a serious condition and it can be deadly. If it’s severe or you have chronic underlying lung disease, you may need to be hospitalized and use a ventilator while your lungs heal, the Mayo Clinic says.
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