Gymnastics icon Mary Lou Retton in ICU

Mary Lou Retton, the first American woman to win all-around gymnastics gold at the Olympics, is "fighting for her life" with a serious illness, according to a fundraiser posted by her daughter.

McKenna Lane Kelley said her mother has "a very rare form of pneumonia" and is "not able to breathe on her own." She said Retton has been in the ICU for more than a week and is not insured but declined to go into further details.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will reportedly go to Retton's hospital bills.

Kelley is the second of Retton's four daughters and was a gymnast herself at LSU from 2016 to 2019.

Retton became a household name during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – winning more medals (5) than any other athlete during those games. Her icon status was solidified when Retton scored perfect scores on the vault and floor routine en route to becoming the first US woman to earn an Olympic gold in the individual all-around event.

Retton was a massive star in gymnastics ... in fact, she made history as the first American woman to win the all-around gold in the 1984 Olympics. She also won two silvers and bronzes that same year.

After retiring, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997 and was the first woman to be selected into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

fundraising campaign on Retton's behalf for medical expenses. Kelley wrote that Retton does not currently have medical insurance.Retton was 16 years old when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Retton, who grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia, also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.

Retton, a mother of four, currently lives in Texas. She retired from competitive gymnastics in 1986 and did numerous commercial endorsements. She also made several film and television appearances, including a stint on “Dancing with the Stars.”

All of her daughters followed in her footsteps. Shayla is a former member of Baylor University's Acrobatics and Tumbling team, McKenna competed for the LSU Tigers gymnastics team, Skyla is a competitive cheerleader and Emma currently competes for the University of Arkansas gymnastics team.

Retton's daughter McKenna made the revelation about her mother's illness on Tuesday.

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 Sarah H

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