Last American to Rely on an Iron Lung After Polio Dies at 78
Martha Ann Lillard, the last known American to depend on an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, died June 26 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She was 78.
Lillard's sister, Cindy McVey, confirmed her death to The Associated Press. "They told her she wasn't supposed to live past 20 years old," McVey said. "She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life." McVey attributed her sister's death to the lasting effects of long-haul COVID-19, and a death certificate listed the causes as chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome.
Contracting Polio in 1953
Lillard was diagnosed with polio on her fifth birthday in 1953, two years before the vaccine became widely available in the United States. That year alone, roughly 35,000 Americans contracted the virus, and about half were left paralyzed. "I got it on my fifth birthday. I woke up and it was sunny outside, and I started to sit up, and my neck was killing me," Lillard recalled in an earlier interview. Within days, she had lost the ability to breathe or move her arms and legs.
The iron lung, a negative-pressure ventilator that encases a patient's body while leaving the head exposed, saved her life. She spent six months in the hospital learning to breathe with the machine's help, later saying she took to it more easily than most children her age. "They usually didn't like to put children in because they fought it, but I didn't," she said. "I liked it. It felt good to breathe."
A Life Built Around the Machine
Lillard spent most nights of her life inside the iron lung, though for much of her adulthood she was able to leave it for hours at a time. As a child, she attended grade school for two hours a day with the help of tutors, and later attended Shawnee High School using a phone intercom system that let her participate in class remotely. Her father modified a trailer and called ahead to hotels to confirm doorways were wide enough to accommodate her machine, allowing the family to take road trips together. Through physical therapy, Lillard regained partial movement in her left arm and legs, though she could never lift her arm above her waist. Despite that, she lived independently for years, preparing her own meals and even driving for a time.
The internet later became a significant part of Lillard's life, allowing her to stay informed and connect with others despite her limited mobility. In a chat room following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, she met a man from Egypt, and the two corresponded for more than two decades before he was eventually able to obtain a visa to join her; they married earlier this year.
McVey described her sister as artistic and deeply engaged with the world around her, noting that she wrote poems, composed songs and volunteered with the Humane Society as an animal rescue advocate. Lillard wrote her own obituary in advance, which has since been posted online by a funeral home.
Her Final Years
Lillard contracted COVID-19 twice during the pandemic, further damaging lungs that already operated at less than 25% capacity. In her final five years, she was rarely able to leave home, and for the last two years of her life, she remained in the iron lung nearly 24 hours a day. In the weeks before her death, she invited a local news crew into her Shawnee home, hoping to find someone who could help repair the aging machine she had relied on for more than 70 years.
Polio was declared eliminated in the United States in 1979, following a national vaccination campaign that began in 1955 and dramatically reduced case numbers over the following decades. Lillard's death marks the end of an era for a disease that once caused widespread fear across the country, with her passing believed to leave no other Americans still dependent on an iron lung.
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