Family says Mary Lou Retton is making progress in battle with pneumonia

The family of Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton says she is making “remarkable� progress in her battle with a rare form of pneumonia that landed her in intensive care.

McKenna Kelley, one of Retton’s four daughters, posted an update on Instagram on Saturday that said the 55-year-old Retton’s breathing is becoming stronger and her “path to recovery is steadily progressing.�

“Though it’s a lengthy journey, witnessing these improvements is incredibly heartening,� Kelley wrote. “She’s beginning to respond to treatments.�

The family disclosed earlier this week that Retton — who became the first American female gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics — was “fighting for her life� and unable to breathe on her own after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

Donations have poured in to a fundraiser the family set up to help offset Retton’s medical expenses after the family said she didn’t have medical insurance. There have been more than 7,500 donations totaling more than $415,000 by Saturday afternoon.

Retton was 16 when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games.

The native of Fairmont, W.V., also won two silver and two bronze medals at the Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by Eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.