Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is “combating for her life” within the intensive care unit, her daughter stated.
Retton was identified with a “very uncommon type of pneumonia” and remained within the intensive care unit at an undisclosed hospital for greater than every week, “unable to breathe on her personal,” McKenna Kelly stated in an Instagram story posted Tuesday afternoon.
“Out of respect for her and her privateness, I cannot reveal all the main points,” Kelly, a former gymnast at Louisiana State College, wrote. “Nevertheless, I’ll reveal that she is just not a believer.”
She added: “We ask you to assist in any method, 1) Pray! and a pair of) If you happen to might help us finance our hospital invoice.
Retton, 55, received 5 medals on the 1984 Summer time Olympics in Los Angeles, together with gold within the particular person all-around — the primary particular person Olympic medal ever received by an American lady — and scored 10 Ideal in the basement Within the last rotation. The West Virginia native’s efficiency landed her on the high of the Wheaties field, growing the game’s reputation in the USA.
Following her gymnastics profession, Retton remained lively within the media, showing in quite a lot of movies and tv reveals. She was inducted into the Worldwide Gymnastics Corridor of Fame in 1997 and was the primary lady named to the Houston Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 2020.
Retton additionally served on the President’s Council on Health and Sports activities below US President George W. Bush.
