Former Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton says she is “blessed” to be alive after battling a life-threatening form of pneumonia this past fall.
In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Retton struggled to take deep breaths but shared that she is “grateful” and has “so much to look forward to” on her road to recovery.
“This is serious, and this is life, and I’m so grateful to be here,” Retton said. “I am blessed to be here because there was a time when they were about to put me on life support.”
The 55-year-old Retton, dubbed “America’s Sweetheart,” said she was feeling a little tired last October when getting her nails done with her daughter, Shayla Schrepfer, but there were no other signs of the health scare that lay ahead.
The next day, her neighbor found Retton lying on her bedroom floor, struggling to breathe.
“She pretty much saved my life,” Retton recalled. “She said I was white and blue.”
Retton told “Today” she doesn’t remember much of anything else, but her daughter described that doctors ran several tests and couldn’t find anything wrong when she tested negative for COVID-19, the flu and RSV.
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