Mary Lou Retton has opened up about her harrowing hospitalization for a rare form of pneumonia in October.
The legendary American Olympic gymnast opened up about her health scare to Hoda Kotb for the first time. “Today” interview He said the 55-year-old was in an “extremely” vulnerable condition as she was nearly put on life support and is receiving oxygen to aid her recovery.
“I'm a very private person, so I don't talk about it publicly. Usually my interviews are like, 'Oh yeah, it felt great to win the Olympics!'” This is serious, and this is… It's life,'' Retton said in a preview clip shown on Sunday Today, sitting next to his daughter Sheila Schlepfer at his home in Berne, Texas, with the full interview set to air on Monday. .
“I'm so grateful to be here. There was a time when I was on life support, so I'm lucky to be here.”
Retton's other daughter, McKenna, wrote in a Spot Fund post in October that the 1984 individual all-around gold medalist had been in the ICU for “over a week” and was “fighting for her life.” was announced for the first time.
On Oct. 18, Sheila said in an Instagram video that her mother had suffered a “pretty scary setback” and was still in the ICU despite previous progress.
Five days later, McKenna announced that Retton had been discharged from the hospital and returned home.
“The road to recovery is still long, but we are making progress one step at a time,” McKenna wrote in an Instagram post.
Retton issued a statement on October 30th, thanking people for their well wishes.
In addition to his gold medal, Retton won silver medals in the team and vault events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and bronze medals in the uneven bars and floor exercise.
