Last U.S. polio patient using iron lung dies at 78

Martha Lillard was paralyzed from the neck down by polio at age 5 and spent 73 years dependent on an iron lung for breathing, ultimately succumbing to long-haul COVID-19 complications.

For 73 years, Martha Lillard breathed with the help of a machine, outliving every medical prediction and becoming the last living American whose body bore witness to the age of polio. She died on June 26 in Oklahoma at 78, her lungs — already diminished by decades of paralysis — finally overwhelmed by the lingering effects of COVID-19. Her passing closes a chapter in American medical history, one written in iron and air pressure, in vaccines and near-forgotten fear, and in the quiet, extraordinary persistence of a single human life.

Last U.S. polio patient using iron lung dies at 78

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