Update *** Monday October 26 ****

We wanted to update TipHero readers on Mary Lou Retton’s condition. The Olympic star’s condition has improved considerably since a setback last week. Retton has been battiling for her life in an intensive care unit fighting a serious pneumonia. Her daughter shared an update on her Instagram today that her mother has been released from the ICU and will continue her recovery at home.

“We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us. But baby steps” McKenna her daughter posted to Instagram.

Retton was admitted to the hospital several weeks ago with a rare form of pneumonia. There have been “ups and downs” her daughter reported. Last week the family thought Retton had taken a turn for the worse.

Back in 1984, at the Olympics held in Los Angeles, gymnast Mary Lou Retton made history as the first woman ever to win an Olympic gold in the individual all-around event. She won five gold medals at the Olympics that year, and in 1997, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Now, in 2023, Mary Lou is fighting for her life, and her daughters are doing everything they can to keep her fans updated while being there to support their mother.

Mary Lou’s daughter McKenna Kelly started a fundraiser to help pay for her mother’s medical bills. She explained, “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 not insured.” At the time of publication, the fundraiser has raised over $450,000, far exceeding the goal of $50,000.

Another one of Mary Lou’s daughters, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, has been posting updates about her mother’s condition on Instagram. On October 14, 2023, she shared that her mother’s condition was improving. She called the improvements “remarkable” and “incredibly heartening.”

Now, just 5 days later, Shayla has shared another update, and this time she shared the update as a video. Mary Lou has had what Shayla describes as “a setback.”

In the video Shayla shares, “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.”

While Shayla didn’t share any details about the setback, she did share some hopeful news. She explained that her mother “had a better day today, which is great.” Then she added that her mother is “just really, really exhausted.”

Shayla ended her post by thanking her followers “for the support.” She added, “It’s so great to see people love on” her mom.