Episode Details

Martha Lillard, the final known American to rely on an iron lung, died at 78 — a living relic of polio’s brutal past, having used the mechanical ventilator since age five in 1953. Despite modern alternatives, she chose the iron lung for its unmatched comfort and life-saving reliability, spending decades mastering her breathing and regaining mobility. Her story, set against the backdrop of polio’s terror before the 1955 vaccine, underscores human resilience — even surviving power outages and ultimately COVID-19. Her passing closes a chapter, honoring a legacy of endurance and reminding us of medicine’s evolution and the indomitable spirit of those who defied it.

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