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

The Olympic champion was hospitalized for a month last October with a "rare form of pneumonia"

Mary Lou Retton is opening up about her life-threatening battle with pneumonia last October in a new interview with Today, recalling the moments her daughters were left “saying their goodbyes” to her in the hospital.

The former gymnast and Olympic champion, 55, sat down with Today host Hoda Kotb to talk about her harrowing experience with a “rare form of pneumonia,” which has left her now perhaps needing oxygen “indefinitely” through a nasal cannula.

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.

Related: Mary Lou Retton Opens Up About Recovery from Rare Form of Pneumonia That Left Her in the ICU: 'I'm a Fighter'

Retton was taken to the emergency room and then the hospital, where she spent several days before 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.

Related: Mary Lou Retton's Daughter Shares Pictures from the Hospital as She Reflects on 'Hardest Year'

Later that night, a doctor spoke with three of Retton’s daughters — Schrepfer, McKenna Kelley, and Skyla Kelley – and discussed “taking the next step” with their mother. Then, with Retton’s fourth daughter Emma Jean Kelley away at college, the doctor recommended her sisters get her to the hospital that same night in case things continued to get worse.

"We don't know if she's going to make it through the night,” the doctor told Retton’s daughters, Schrepfer recalled.

"They were saying their goodbyes to me," Retton told Today during the emotional interview.

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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 told Today. 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."

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