Former USA gymnast Mary Lou Retton has returned home after a lengthy hospitalization with pneumonia, her daughter said Monday.
Shaley Kelley Schrepfer, the eldest of Leighton’s four daughters, posted an update on her mother’s health on Instagram, two weeks after family members reported the former Olympic all-around champion was in critical condition guardianship.
Layton, 55, is in “recovery mode,” Schreepfer said.
“We have a long road to recovery ahead of us,” Schreepfer wrote. “But they are small steps.”
Earlier this month, Layton’s family reported that Layton – who became the first American gymnast to win the all-around title at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles – was “fighting for her life” and was unable to breathe on her own .
Donations started pouring in after his family launched a fundraiser to pay for his medical bills after they reported he had no health insurance. As of Monday, more than 8,300 donations totaling $460,000 had been received.
At 16, Leighton became a U.S. Olympic icon with his performance at the 1984 Olympics. The Fairmont, West Virginia, native also won two silver medals and two bronze medals in the same event, making gymnastics — then a dominant sport at the time — a force in Romania and the Soviet Union — and becoming the U.S. a popular sport.