Credit: KFOR Oklahoma's News 4 & GoFundMe
Woman Who Lived Inside Iron Lung Has Died
Martha Lillard, a woman who lived inside an iron lung, has died aged 78.
For decades, she defied the odds after doctors told her she would never reach adulthood.
Now, Martha Lillard, believed to have been the last person in the United States still relying on an iron lung, has died at the age of 78.
Lillard contracted polio as a young child, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on the huge metal breathing machine that would become her home for much of the next seven decades, per the Guardian.
Despite spending most nights, and eventually almost every hour of the day, inside the cylindrical device, she built a life that inspired thousands, travelling across America, learning, driving, volunteering, and even finding love online.
Her death comes just over two years after the passing of Paul Alexander, the Texas lawyer who became famous as the world’s longest-surviving iron lung patient.
She was told she would never live beyond 20
According to NBC, Lillard was just five years old when she contracted polio.
The disease left her unable to breathe independently, meaning she relied on an iron lung: a negative-pressure ventilator that mechanically expanded and contracted her lungs by altering air pressure inside a sealed metal chamber.
Doctors gave her little chance of survival.
“They told her she wasn’t supposed to live past 20 years old,” her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told the Associated Press.
“She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”
Instead of accepting those predictions, Lillard lived for nearly eight decades.
She attended grade school for a few hours each day before completing the rest of her education through tutoring.
Later, she attended Shawnee High School using an intercom phone system that allowed her to participate in lessons remotely long before online learning became commonplace.
Her determination extended far beyond education.
Therapy eventually allowed her to regain partial movement in her left arm and legs, and for a time she was even able to drive.
Her family also refused to let the iron lung stop them from travelling.
Her father had a custom trailer built so the enormous machine could accompany them on road trips, even calling hotels in advance to make sure their doorways were wide enough to fit it.
“To me, it was just normal,” McVey recalled.
She found love and refused to let her condition define her
Although much of her life was spent inside the iron lung, Lillard continued pursuing new experiences.
According to NBC News, after the September 11 attacks, she joined online chat rooms to better understand world events.
It was there she met Egyptian man Baha Salh.
The pair remained in contact online for more than 20 years before he was finally granted a visa allowing him to travel to Oklahoma.
The couple married earlier this year.
“They were really soul mates,” McVey said. “He’s extremely brokenhearted.”
Away from her personal life, Lillard devoted much of her time to writing poetry, composing songs and helping animals.
She volunteered with the Humane Society and spent years assisting animal rescue groups by sharing adoption posts online.
She even wrote her own obituary, describing herself as ‘an avid Beagle lover.’
She became one of the last living symbols of the polio era
Before vaccines transformed public health, polio was among the most feared diseases in America.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), annual outbreaks left thousands of children paralyzed throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
Iron lungs became one of the defining images of that era, with hospital wards filled with rows of the enormous metal cylinders keeping patients alive until they regained the ability to breathe.
Following the introduction of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine in 1955, infections rapidly declined.
By the 1960s, annual US cases had fallen below 100, and by 1979 the virus was declared eliminated from routine spread within the United States.
As more advanced ventilators replaced iron lungs, the once-common machines almost completely disappeared.
Lillard became one of the final people still depending on the technology every day.
Her death follows that of Paul Alexander in 2024.
Alexander, known worldwide as ‘Polio Paul,’ spent more than 70 years living in an iron lung after contracting polio in 1952.
Despite his paralysis, he became a lawyer, published a memoir and was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s longest-serving iron lung patient.
His remarkable story introduced millions of younger people to a medical device many had never seen before.
Her final years became increasingly difficult
Although Lillard had lived independently for many years, her health deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her sister, she contracted COVID twice.
Before those infections, she already had less than 25% lung capacity.
Following long-term complications, she eventually required the iron lung almost continuously, spending nearly 24 hours a day inside the machine during the final two years of her life.
McVey believes long COVID contributed significantly to her sister’s decline.
Lillard’s death certificate lists chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome as her causes of death.
She died on June 26 at the age of 78.
In recent years, McVey had spoken publicly about the family’s struggle to find engineers capable of repairing the increasingly rare machine that had kept her sister alive for decades.
Following Lillard’s death, she reflected sadly: “But since she’s the last one, we don’t need that anymore.”
Lillard’s extraordinary life has prompted an outpouring of tributes online, with many describing her as a symbol of resilience and a reminder of both the devastating impact of polio and the life-saving importance of vaccination.
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