Martha Ann Lillard, one of the last polio survivors to rely on an iron lung, died on June 26 at the age of 78 after spending more than 70 years inside the 1940s-era device. The machine had become too old to repair, with replacement parts no longer available.
Diagnosed on her fifth birthday
Lillard, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, was diagnosed with polio on her fifth birthday in 1953. She told KFOR last month: ‘I woke up, and it was sunny outside, and I started to sit up, and my neck was killing me. I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow.’ Four days later, she fell unconscious and was unable to breathe or move. ‘They usually didn’t like to put children in because they fought it, but I didn’t,’ she said.
Life inside the iron lung
Iron lungs are airtight metal tanks that generate negative pressure to force the lungs to expand. At her sickest, Lillard required the lung for 23 hours a day, using her one hour of free time to rehabilitate her paralyzed limbs. She was able to live a relatively normal life, needing the lung for about nine hours a day, until she contracted Covid-19 twice and shingles. She took high school classes over the phone and never attended prom, as she spent her free hour in school.
Final months and challenges
In the months leading up to her death, Lillard needed the iron lung 24 hours a day. The device began to break down, and parts from the 1940s were too old to replace. Her sister, Cindy McVey, said: ‘Some of the parts are from the 1940s, and they’re hard to locate. We have a spare motor, but we don’t have anyone to put it back in if we needed it.’ At one point, a tornado knocked out power, and her husband Baha Seleh performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until help arrived.
Legacy and fundraising
A GoFundMe fundraiser honoring Lillard’s legacy stated: ‘She was incredibly creative, painting, writing poems, and composing music for the left hand piano. Even as post-polio syndrome continued to affect her, she maintained a wonderful fighting attitude, making the most of what she had left and enjoying life as much as she could.’
Two years after her diagnosis, a vaccine was created that eradicated polio. Lillard’s death marks the end of an era for one of the last survivors dependent on an iron lung.
