Mary Lou Retton's Daughter Remembers 'Saying Their Goodbyes' to Her Mom in the ICU

Mar. 15, 2025

Mary Lou Retton and daughter Shayla Schrepfer.Photo:TODAY/ YouTube

TODAY/ YouTube

She was hospitalized last October after collapsing in her bedroom the morning she was supposed to go on a “girls trip” with her daughter Emma Jean to see Emma’s boyfriend play football for the University of Arkansas.“I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” Retton recalled, explaining that a friend came into the house after noticing her car was left on the driveway with a door opened.

Mary Lou Retton and family.Mary Lou Retton/ Instagram

Mary Lou Retton/ Instagram

Retton was taken to the emergency room and then the hospital,where she spent several daysbefore being sent back home. After returning home, the 1984 Olympian’s oxygen levels plummeted and she was rushed back to the hospital.“Things just went south really, really fast,” her daughter Shayla Schrepfer told Kotb.

Mary Lou Retton and daughters.Mary Lou Retton/Instagram

Mary Lou Retton/Instagram

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Emma arrived that night, and her mother’s breathing got better after doctors tried a new breathing apparatus that pumped high-flow oxygen through her nose. That avoided doctors having to put Retton on a ventilator for the night, and she continued to progress, eventually leaving the hospital after a month.

Retton still doesn’t know what caused the illness, which nearly left her on “life support,” she toldToday. The Olympian tested negative for COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

“I’ve never had a lung issue in my life,” a baffled Retton said.

“I just thought I was a washed-up old athlete, but the love touched me,” she added. “Now that I’m alive and I made it through, there’s so many more positives than negatives.”

source: people.com