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Martha Lillard, last American using iron lung, dies in Shawnee, Oklahoma
Martha Lillard, last American using iron lung, dies in Shawnee
KOSU | By Sabrina Thaler
Published July 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM CDT
Wikimedia Commons
Martha Lillard began using an iron lung at age 5 after she contracted polio.
Martha Lillard, the last known American to use an iron lung, died in Shawnee on June 26 at age 78.
Lillard contracted polio as a 5-year-old in 1953, around the height of the virus’ spread in the United States. Doctors at the time frequently used iron lungs to help victims survive the disease, which could paralyze their muscles and deplete their lung capacity.
With the advent of more modern ventilators, iron lungs have become virtually obsolete. Lillard, though, refused to switch to a different respiration system, insisting that the iron lung was the most comfortable option for her.
“So I just wanted people to understand that it’s not, ‘Oh, I want to be in the iron lung.’ That’s not true,” Lillard said in a 2021 episode of Radio Diaries. “I would rather not need it at all. But sometimes when I get in there, I say, ‘Thank you.’ It feels wonderful to get into it. It’s the thing that’s been there that saved my life and I know that it’s the only thing that’s kept me here.”
{snip}
Lillard died following a battle with long-haul COVID-19, according to her obituary. Toward the end of her life, she slept in the iron lung for nearly the entire day, KFOR reported.
{snip}
KOSU | By Sabrina Thaler
Published July 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM CDT
Wikimedia Commons
Martha Lillard began using an iron lung at age 5 after she contracted polio.
Martha Lillard, the last known American to use an iron lung, died in Shawnee on June 26 at age 78.
Lillard contracted polio as a 5-year-old in 1953, around the height of the virus’ spread in the United States. Doctors at the time frequently used iron lungs to help victims survive the disease, which could paralyze their muscles and deplete their lung capacity.
With the advent of more modern ventilators, iron lungs have become virtually obsolete. Lillard, though, refused to switch to a different respiration system, insisting that the iron lung was the most comfortable option for her.
“So I just wanted people to understand that it’s not, ‘Oh, I want to be in the iron lung.’ That’s not true,” Lillard said in a 2021 episode of Radio Diaries. “I would rather not need it at all. But sometimes when I get in there, I say, ‘Thank you.’ It feels wonderful to get into it. It’s the thing that’s been there that saved my life and I know that it’s the only thing that’s kept me here.”
{snip}
Lillard died following a battle with long-haul COVID-19, according to her obituary. Toward the end of her life, she slept in the iron lung for nearly the entire day, KFOR reported.
{snip}
6 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Paul Alexander (polio survivor)
Paul Richard Alexander (January 30, 1946 – March 11, 2024) was an American paralytic polio survivor, attorney, and author. After contracting polio in 1952 at the age of six, he spent the remainder and vast majority of his life in an iron lung, and is currently recognized as the person to have spent the longest period of time occupying one at almost 72 years. Decades following his disablement, Alexander earned a bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was admitted to the bar in 1986. He self-published a memoir in 2020 and, late in life, built a following on TikTok.
Paul Alexander
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Paul_Alexander_(polio_survivor).jpg/500px-Paul_Alexander_(polio_survivor).jpg
Alexander in 1986
{snip}
Paul Richard Alexander (January 30, 1946 – March 11, 2024) was an American paralytic polio survivor, attorney, and author. After contracting polio in 1952 at the age of six, he spent the remainder and vast majority of his life in an iron lung, and is currently recognized as the person to have spent the longest period of time occupying one at almost 72 years. Decades following his disablement, Alexander earned a bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was admitted to the bar in 1986. He self-published a memoir in 2020 and, late in life, built a following on TikTok.
Paul Alexander
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Paul_Alexander_(polio_survivor).jpg/500px-Paul_Alexander_(polio_survivor).jpg
Alexander in 1986
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Fri Aug 16, 2024: On this day, August 16, 1955, Boston's polio epidemic hit a high of 480 cases.
Obituaries
Paul Alexander, forced into an iron lung by polio in 1952, dies at 78
March 13, 2024 • 12:18 PM ET
By Bill Chappell
Paul Alexander, who held a Guinness World Record for living the longest with the help of an iron lung, has died. Here, medical staff stand among iron lung machines in an emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 16, 1955, when the city's polio epidemic hit a high of 480 cases.
AP
Polio struck Paul Alexander in 1952, when he was just 6 years old. Within days, the disease robbed him of the use of his body. But he fought through the illness, using an iron lung for more than 70 years — and inspiring people with his determination to live a full life. He painted, wrote a book and worked for years as an attorney.
"Paul took a lot of pride in being a positive role model for others," his friend Christopher Ulmer, who organized a GoFundMe page for Alexander in 2022, said in a message to NPR. "More than anything I believe he would want others to know they are capable of great things."
Alexander died on Monday at age 78, according to a notice by the Grove Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park in his hometown of Dallas, Texas.
Ulmer says he first met Alexander when he filmed an interview with him; the two stayed in touch afterward. Ulmer launched a donation campaign for Alexander after people betrayed his trust and left him in need of better living accommodations, he said. In response, people donated more than $140,000.
{snip}
Paul Alexander, forced into an iron lung by polio in 1952, dies at 78
March 13, 2024 • 12:18 PM ET
By Bill Chappell
Paul Alexander, who held a Guinness World Record for living the longest with the help of an iron lung, has died. Here, medical staff stand among iron lung machines in an emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 16, 1955, when the city's polio epidemic hit a high of 480 cases.
AP
Polio struck Paul Alexander in 1952, when he was just 6 years old. Within days, the disease robbed him of the use of his body. But he fought through the illness, using an iron lung for more than 70 years — and inspiring people with his determination to live a full life. He painted, wrote a book and worked for years as an attorney.
"Paul took a lot of pride in being a positive role model for others," his friend Christopher Ulmer, who organized a GoFundMe page for Alexander in 2022, said in a message to NPR. "More than anything I believe he would want others to know they are capable of great things."
Alexander died on Monday at age 78, according to a notice by the Grove Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park in his hometown of Dallas, Texas.
Ulmer says he first met Alexander when he filmed an interview with him; the two stayed in touch afterward. Ulmer launched a donation campaign for Alexander after people betrayed his trust and left him in need of better living accommodations, he said. In response, people donated more than $140,000.
{snip}
From appalachiablue:
Thu Mar 14, 2024: Paul Alexander - In Iron Lung for Polio Since 1952, More Than 70 Yrs - Dies At 78: NPR