Mary Lou Retton home from hospital after life-threatening health scare, daughter says
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on October 24, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Mary Lou Retton is back home after a health scare that required a nearly two-week stay in the intensive care unit.
McKenna Lane Kelley, one of Retton’s four daughters, shared on Instagram Monday that her mom is home and “in recovery mode.”
“We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us, but baby steps,” Kelley wrote. “We are overwhelmed with the love and support from everyone. Grateful doesn’t scrape the surface of the posture of our hearts.”
Retton, 55, had been hospitalized in the ICU for nearly two weeks and was initially not able to breathe on her own, according to a fundraising page created for Retton, who is not insured, according to her family.
As recently as last week, another of Retton’s daughters, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, shared on Instagram that her mom had suffered a “scary setback” after making steady progress earlier in the week.
Retton’s daughters have not shared exact details of their mom’s diagnosis beyond saying previously that she was battling a “very rare” form of pneumonia.
Pneumonia is an infection that causes the air sacs of the lungs to fill with fluid, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Retton became a sports icon when she won Olympic individual all-around gold at the 1984 Games. She also earned silver as a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team in the all-around and as an individual on vault. She earned bronze medals in the uneven bars and floor exercise to claim five medals total in Los Angeles.
She has remained an iconic American sports hero in the decades since and was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 2018, Retton competed on season 27 of ABC’s dancing competition show Dancing with the Stars.
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