Health crisis for Mary Lou Retton

Details sketchy:
Mary Lou Retton illness: McKenna Kelley reveals mother's pneumonia diagnosis | CNN

I had just seen a taped program with her in it in the last week or so. I forget what it was about, but she looked ok in that.

Kind of astonishing that she would be in a position of her family having to fundraise to cover medical bills, but weird things happen in life.

 

She does one of those late night commercials for something insurance I think and she didn’t look good / I didn’t recognize her

 

I think that was it.

Apparently it must not be very good insurance if her family has to drum up money for medical bills.

I thought she looked ok for mid-fifties -- her hairstyle is obviously very different from her iconic pageboy look from '84 and I did have to double take to be sure -- but overall she looked ok, hadn't ballooned up to 300 pounds, no raccoon like sunken smoker's eye sockets, no blotchy meth skin, etc etc. Hopefully she pulls through.

 

Fifty-five, damn. I hope she's OK but this sounds harrowing.

 

Every schoolboy’s dream in ‘84, especially with that phone ring on her floor routine.

I hope it works out for her.

 

She looks a lot older than 55 but maybe it’s just me

 

The way I'm reading the coverage, it sounds like the title of this may be changing soon.

Coming back from a week on a ventilator... well, the odds are long.

Also, gotta wonder if this is pneumonia or "pneumonia" (covid).

 

I was in a mall in Morgantown about 1986 and who shows up but Mary Lou herself. I was introduced and said, "Do you have to show up for everyone's first day here?"

She was nice and lovely, just as you'd expect.

 

She was involved in everything in '84/'85. Being 8/9 years old at the time, she was on a lot of the commercials during my shows (Saturday morning cartoons, etc.).

 

I think I ate a couple of Big Macs on Mary Lou's dime in 1984. McD's lost their ass on that promo.

 

I loved watching her, but probably no athlete benefited from the Warsaw Pact boycott more.