Mary Lou Retton prepares to become a grandma for the first time... after near-death pneumonia hospitalization and $460k donation controversy

Former Olympic hero Mary Lou Retton and her family are celebrating some exciting news - with daughter Skyla expecting her first child.

Retton has had a tough year after she was hospitalized and admitted to the ICU with a rare form of pneumonia last October, before fighting back in 'truly remarkable' fashion.

Now, though, the family has received some good news and are expecting a new arrival - with Retton to become a grandma for the first time.

The former gymnast, who has one gold medal, two silver and two bronzes from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, has four daughters, but until now no grandchildren.

In a photo on Instagram, primarily to celebrate the graduation of youngest child Emma, Retton can be seen posing with all four of her daughters.

In the image, Skyla, 24, can be seen showing off her baby bump in a blue dress, while McKenna, 27, and Shayla, 29, are also present alongside Emma, 21.

Mary Lou herself, now 56, is on the left of the shot and appears in good health after her year of battling back from intensive care.

In an interview at the start of 2024, she opened up on the horrific ordeal, in which a neighbor found her lying on her bedroom floor struggling to breathe. 

She told The Today Show's Hoda Kotb that she is 'blessed to be here' after doctors almost placed her on life support. 

Retton, the first American woman to win the Olympic all-around title in 1984, revealed in her first interview since being hospitalized that her condition deteriorated to the point that her four daughters said their goodbyes, fearing she wouldn't make it through the night. 

Retton was initially taken to hospital where she was kept for a 'couple of days' before being sent home.

However, her condition continued to deteriorate at home, where she reached a dangerously low pulse oximeter level - a measure of the amount of oxygen circulating in the blood.

She was rushed back to hospital and immediately admitted to the ICU, where things 'went south really, really fast', her daughter Shayla, who sat alongside her mother during the interview, said. 

Doctors first approached Shayla and two of her sisters, McKenna and Skyla, to tell them they were considering 'taking the next step' of putting Retton on 'life support'. 

The medics later told the trio to get their youngest sister, Emma, who was away at college, to get to the hospital. 

'We don't know if she's going to make it through the night,' Shayla recalled a doctor telling her.

'Emma was able to get there,' Shayla added. 'So that was a huge blessing, a huge sigh of relief, being there that night.'

The sisters put their hands on their mom and prayed, while McKenna told her, 'It's okay, you can go.' 

'They were saying their goodbyes to me,' Retton said, while tearing up. 

In the months that followed the ordeal, hundreds of thousands of dollars poured in from concerned fans - which led to an unsavory situation of its own. 

Retton and her family faced questions over the $459,324 they received in public donations, with the former gymnast repeatedly refusing to declare where the funds were being spent.

In an interview, daughter McKenna said that after the medical bills are paid, the family 'plans to donate all remaining funds to a charity of her mother's choice'.

Neither McKenna nor Mary Lou herself have confirmed how much of the $459,324 was spent on medical bills, or what amount was sent - or will be sent - to a charity. 

During an interview last year, McKenna claimed that her mom was left without health insurance as she could not afford care because of pre-existing conditions, including 'over 30 orthopedic surgeries, including four hip replacements,' adding: 'She's in chronic pain every day.'

McKenna and her sisters have also cited Retton's 2018 divorce and disruptions to her speaking-engagement income caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as reasons for financial difficulty.

In reality, DailyMail.com revealed in January that Retton received a cool $2million from her divorce proceedings, and was also expected to collect around $2million more in compensation after a legal spat with the manufacturer of her two metal hip replacements.

Mail Sport reached out to Retton and her family for comment at the time, but did not hear back.