Mary Lou Retton will ‘never be the same’ after nearly dying from pneumonia

Mary Lou Retton, who wowed the world with her “10” Olympic gold medal-winning gymnastic performance 40 years ago, is updating fans on her recovery from the health scare that almost took her life in 2023.

“Girl, I should be dead,” Retton told People in a recent interview. “God wasn’t ready for me.”

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Last year, the star athlete faced her biggest physical contest yet, a rare form of pneumonia that had her hospitalized for a month, and intubated for part of that. At one point, her doctors summoned her four daughters to her bedside to say goodbye, she told People.

Earlier this year, she told “Today” that her medical team considered putting her on life support. Though that didn’t happen and she pulled through, she is still on oxygen nearly a year later.

“I’ll never be the same,” Retton told People. “My lungs are so scarred. It will be a lifetime of recovery.”

The health crisis came to light last fall when her daughters mounted a crowdfunding drive to help defray medical expenses for the uninsured tumbler, with the U.S. Olympic Committee providing an assist as well.

While she was responding to treatment, her daughters reported last October, she suffered a setback before being sent home later that month.

As recently as May, Retton’s condition remained a medical mystery as she said her doctors “still don’t know what’s wrong with me,” classifying her ailment as a rare form of pneumonia.