Decorated former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is \u201cfighting for her life\u201d in intensive care as she battles a rare form of pneumonia, according to alarming reports.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old\u2019s family broke the troubling news late last night, insisting that Retton \u201cis not able to breathe on her own.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gymnast is widely considered one of the most iconic US athletes to have ever competed in Olympic gymnastics, having taken gold in the individual all-around competition at the 1984 games in Los Angeles.Retton\u2019s success marked the first time in history that an American woman had earned the all-around gold medal, and indeed any individual medal in gymnastics.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Retton rose to national prominence through her feats, going on to appear in several films and TV shows throughout the 1980s and \u201990s. She was also recognized as Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 1984.<\/p>\n
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\nLOS ANGELES \u2013 AUGUST 1984: Mary Lou Retton of the USA waves to the crowd during the Women\u2019s Gymnastics competition of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held from July 30 to August 3, 1984 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Madison\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Now, however, her fans have been dealt a blow after the former star\u2019s daughter, McKenna Kelley, revealed her mother is in ICU battling a rare form of pneumonia.<\/p>\n
McKenna\u2019s post on Spotfund reads: \u201cHey everyone! On behalf of my sisters and I, we need y\u2019all\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cANYTHING, absolutely anything, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y\u2019all so very much!\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Following her retirement from gymnastics, Retton became a motivational speaker. She also served on the President\u2019s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under former President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re praying for Mary Lou Retton\u2019s recovery. Join us by leaving a comment or sharing this article on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Decorated former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is \u201cfighting for her life\u201d in intensive care as she battles a rare form of pneumonia, according to alarming reports. The 55-year-old\u2019s family broke the troubling news late last night, insisting that Retton \u201cis not able to breathe on her own.\u201d The gymnast is widely considered one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2749,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions\/2749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}