The last woman with an "iron lung" dies in the USA

Martha contracted polio in 1953 when she was just five years old. At that time, about 35,000 people in the USA suffered from the disease, and approximately half of them became paralyzed. Two years later, mass vaccination began in the country, thanks to which the USA officially declared the eradication of polio in 1979.

Lillard later recalled that the first symptoms appeared on her birthday. She woke up with severe neck pain and could no longer lift her head from the pillow. A few days later, the girl lost consciousness, and doctors connected her to an "iron lung," which saved her life. Unlike many children, she was not afraid of the enormous apparatus and said she was simply happy to be able to breathe again.

Martha spent the first six months in the hospital. Almost all that time — about 23 hours a day — she was in the capsule, dedicating only one hour to rehabilitation. Gradually, she learned to walk again, but her right arm remained completely paralyzed, and her left arm only worked partially. At home, her grandfather improved the apparatus by installing an additional motor so Martha could open it herself from the inside.

Throughout her life, she repeatedly tried to use modern artificial lung ventilation machines, but none of them could provide the necessary level of respiratory support. Therefore, she continued to use the "iron lung." In her best years, the apparatus was only needed during nighttime sleep, which helped maintain the function of her single functional lung.

The illness severely affected Martha's childhood and youth. She could only attend school for about an hour a day, missed her prom, and did not receive a high school diploma because she couldn't follow a regular curriculum. Despite this, Martha led an active life. She rescued stray dogs and lizards, painted hundreds of pictures, wrote poetry, and married twice. She met her second husband, originally from Egypt, online in 2005, and he later moved to live with her in Oklahoma.

For a long time, Martha remained independent: she cooked for herself and took care of herself. However, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly worsened her condition. She suffered from coronavirus infection twice, after which she had shingles and faced long-term consequences of COVID-19. For the last eight months of her life, she could not go a single hour without the "iron lung."

Over time, the apparatus itself wore out significantly. Some of its parts were manufactured back in the 1940s, and there were almost no specialists left who could repair or replace them. Last year, after a tornado, the electricity went out in Lillard's home, the emergency generator failed, and her husband was forced to maintain Martha's breathing using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until rescuers arrived.

Martha Ann Lillard passed away on the last Friday of June, eight days after giving her last interview to a local TV channel. Her life became an example of exceptional human resilience, as she, despite a severe illness and complete dependence on a special apparatus, managed to live a long and rich life.

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