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Mary Lou Retton is home!
The Olympic gold medalist’s daughter McKenna Kelley shared the good news on Instagram, revealing her mom was released from a hospital after battling a rare form of pneumonia for weeks.
Kelley wrote, “Mom is HOME & in recovery mode. We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us, but baby steps.”
She continued, “We are overwhelmed with the love and support from everyone. Grateful doesn’t scrape the surface of the posture of our hearts.”
It’s a huge improvement for Retton, who couldn’t breathe on her own and was in an ICU just two weeks ago.
At the time, Kelley and her sisters started a Spotfund page to raise money for Mary Lou’s care. So far, they have collected more than $450,000.
She 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. Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not disclose all details. However, I will disclose that she is not insured.”
Retton’s road to recovery had its ups and downs.
Last week, her daughter Shayla Schrepfer explained in a video, “Basically, at the beginning of this week, we were going on the up and up… We were so excited, seeing so much progress, and then yesterday we had a pretty scary setback. She is still in ICU and we’re just working through some things as far as her setback goes. So, I just wanted to give an update there.”
Just a few days earlier, Shayla and her sisters had posted a positive update, saying, “Mom’s progress is truly remarkable” and that her “reliance on machines is diminishing.”
They said she was “responding well to treatments,” and shared, “Witnessing these improvements is incredibly heartening.”
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Olympian Mary Lou Retton Suffers ‘Scary Setback’ in ICU
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Retton, now 55, was a household name in the 1980s. She took home gold in gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics, making history as the first American woman to win the all-around gold. The athlete also earned two silver medals and two bronze that year.
Her performance earned her the title of Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year, and her face appeared on a Wheaties box. After winning the American Cup all-around competition for the third time in 1985, she retired in 1986.
Mary Lou was back in the spotlight in 2018, competing on “Dancing with the Stars” Season 27 with pro partner Sasha Farber.
Retton shares four daughters with her ex-husband Shannon Kelley — McKenna, Shayla, Skyla and Emma.