"We didn't think about what this would turn into" - Mary Lou Retton's daughter on using donations to raise $459,324 for mother's pneumonia treatment

Mary Lou Retton's daughter McKenna Kelley has said that their family has been overwhelmed by the response to their crowdfunding campaign.

Kelley took to social media in October last year to announce that her mother, who is considered one of the greatest names in American Olympic history, was suffering from a very rare form of pneumonia and was fighting for her life.

“She is not able to breathe on her own. She’s been in the ICU for over a week now," she said on an Instagram story.

Her post also stated that their family was accepting donations as they are trying to raise money for the treatment. It was later announced that the 55-year-old has since been discharged from the hospital and faces a long and slow recovery.

According to their spotfund campaign, people have come together to donate a total of $459,324 for Retton's treatment. Speaking to USA Today, Kelley stated that they resorted to asking for donations as they felt helpless and were looking to help their mother in her fight against the illness.

“I don’t know if that’s ignorant of us or if that was just sweet. This was not supposed to be a big media thing. We didn’t even think about what this would turn into. It was simply four daughters who felt helpless who wanted to help their mom who knew that this would help take a burden off,” she said.

Kelley also said that the money left after paying her mother’s medical bills would be donated to a charity of Retton's choice, though she did not confirm the exact amount that would be given to charity.

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McKenna Kelley: “She’s not Mary Lou Retton to us, she’s our mom”

Mary Lou Retton is considered one of the greatest Olympic players in USA's history. She rose to fame during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when the then 16-year-old became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the gymnastics all-around competition.

She scored perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault, which saw her defeat Romania's Ecaterina Szabo by 0.05 points. This victory came just six weeks after she underwent an operation on her knee. She later won four more medals (two silver and two bronze) at the event.

McKenna Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, stated that while her mother might be a sporting great, she and her three sisters look at her purely as the woman who brought them up. And when Retton fell sick, she said they felt helpless and had no other option but to ask people to help them pay for her treatment.

“This is genuinely four daughters concerned for their mom, that was it. I know I keep saying that but that is truly where our hearts were when we started this; we felt so helpless. Her breathing was out of our control. The only thing that we could do to help that was in our control was what if we start a GoFundMe, what if we start a spotfund, people can help,” she said.

“When we asked for help, when we put this out there, we didn’t think of how this would turn out because she’s not Mary Lou Retton to us. She’s our mom. She would ground us, she would make us clean our room, she’d make us dinner, she’d be the shoulder to cry on, she is the joy and light of our lives and we wanted to help,” she added.