USA gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton is “fighting for her life” in intensive care as she battles pneumonia, according to her daughter McKenna Kelley.
According to a note on a Spotfund account set up by Kelley, Retton has been in the intensive care unit for over a week for “a very rare form of pneumonia.” According to Kelley, Retton is unable to breathe on his own.
“Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not reveal all the details. However, I will disclose that she is not insured,” Kelley wrote on the *spotfund page.
“If you could help in any way, we ask that you 1) PRAY! and 2) help us cover the hospital bill. ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful to my family and my mother. Thank you all so much!”
Retton, 55, made history as a 16-year-old at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in individual gymnastics. Her individual all-around gold was one of five medals she won at the 1984 Games, along with two silver and two bronze medals.
What made Retton’s historic achievement even more impressive was the fact that it came just weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
“We did three months of rehabilitation in two weeks,” she said years later.
Retton was inducted into the US Olympics Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.