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Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Mary Lou Retton said she “faced death in the eyes” during her recent bout with a rare form of pneumonia.
Retton, 55, was hospitalized and in intensive care in October after being unable to breathe on her own. Her four daughters publicly shared the news on a fundraising site, saying she was “fighting for her life.”
Retton, who at the 1984 Games became the first American woman to win Olympic all-around gold, is now recovering at home and remains reliant on a nasal oxygen tube. In an interview that aired Monday on NBC’s “Today” show, she said she’s grateful to be alive.
“I’m a fighter and I’m not going to give up,” Retton said. “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 would never give up. It’s not in me.”
In the interview, her first since the hospitalization, Retton said she had been struggling with exhaustion and being able to breathe when the symptoms first began. She said a neighbor noticed a car in Retton’s driveway with an open door, but no sign of Retton, and went inside to check on her. The neighbor found her on the floor of her home, where she had been laying for 15 minutes and was unable to move.
“She knows my code, and saw me and found me,” Retton said. “And Magda [the neighbor] pretty much saved my life.”
Retton said she was initially admitted to the hospital for a “couple of days” but then sent home. She said her breathing continued to get worse, and her pulse oximeter level continued to drop. She was then brought again to the hospital and admitted to the ICU. Retton and her daughter Shayla Schrepfer said doctors were considering putting her on a ventilator, and they were unsure if she would “make it through the night.” However, a breathing apparatus helped bring her oxygen level up and she was able to avoid being placed on a ventilator.
Retton said her medical team is still not sure what caused the pneumonia and that they plan to do a biopsy on her lungs to find out once she is stronger. But because of such uncertainties her timeline for a full recovery remains unclear.
In the initial announcement on the fundraising site, Retton’s daughters said she didn’t have health insurance and were raining money to help pay for her care. Retton said she had been struggling with her finances since her divorce in 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I couldn’t afford it, I couldn’t afford it, I couldn’t afford it,” Retton said. “But who would even know that this was going to happen to me? That’s the bottom line, I couldn’t afford it.” More than $459,000 was raised to help Retton, who said she now has health insurance.
Retton ultimately spent a month in the hospital before coming home.
“[I’m] not great yet, I know it’s going to be a really long road,” Retton said. “I don’t know how long I’ll need the oxygen but you have no idea how blessed and grateful I was for this holiday season.”