Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton has been battling severe pneumonia in a hospital intensive care unit, daughters of the famed American gymnast said.
A Tuesday post on a crowd-funding page by Retton’s daughter, McKenna Kelley, characterized the Hall of Fame gymnast as being critically ill. Another daughter confirmed the illness to NBC News.
On the crowd-funding site, McKenna Kelley wrote: “My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. She is not able to breathe on her own. She’s been in the ICU for over a week now.”
More details were not shared, and it wasn’t clear where Retton, 55, was being treated. A native of West Virginia, she lives in Houston.
In the crowd-funding statement, linked from her verified Instagram account, Kelley made an appeal for help with Retton’s hospital bills, saying she does not have medical insurance.
“ANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom,” she wrote.
Retton became the first American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics with her victory in all-around at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. She also took home more medals than any other athlete that summer: a total of 5.
Her feats made Retton a household name and catapulted her into broadcast booths as a sports commentator, television shows as an actor and contestant, and even movie roles.
