Last U.S. polio patient with an iron lung dies at 78 in Oklahoma as machine was too old to repair

The last US polio patient who relied on an iron lung has died at the age of 78, after spending most of her life within the machine.

Martha Lillard, from Shawnee, Oklahoma, contracted polio when she was just five years old, in 1953.

Lillard had celebrated her fifth birthday, on June 8, 1953, at Joyland amusement park in Kansas, and just over a week later, on June 17, 1953, she woke up with a sore throat and pain in her neck. When she was taken to hospital, she was diagnosed with polio.

After spending six months in hospital, Lillard was placed into an iron lung - a negative pressure ventilator - to help her breathe, which she eventually chose to use for the rest of her life, sleeping in it at night.

Lillard told NBC News in a 2013 interview that it was "a huge relief" being put into the machine, adding: "It feels wonderful, actually, if you’re not breathing well. It makes all the difference when you’re not breathing."

Lillard died on June 26 in Oklahoma, per her online obituary, with her family paying tribute to her incredible life.

Despite being confined to the iron lung Lillard attended grade school for two hours daily before completing the rest of her education through tutoring.

Her condition did not stop her living life to the fullest, as her family made it possible for her travel, taking road trips to Missouri in a custom trailer, and staying at hotels with doors wide enough to accommodate Lillard's iron lung machine.

Lillard was also able to drive for a period of time, showing that she was not going to let her circumstances stop her.

Cindy McVey, her younger sister, told the Associated Press on Friday: "They told her she wasn’t supposed to live past 20 years old.

"She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life."

McVey believes the effects of a long-term case of Covid-19 contributed to Lillard's death, stating that her sister's death certificate lists chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome as her causes of death.

Lillard's death comes two years after that of Paul Alexander, from Texas, who spent over seven decades within an iron lung after contracting polio at six years old.

Martha Lillard had used an iron lung to help with her breathing. Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

He was paralyzed from the neck down by the disease, but went on to earn a law degree, write his own memoir, and even paint using a brush held in his mouth.

Alexander died on March 11, 2024, also aged 78, after being recognized by Guinness World Records as the "longest iron lung patient".

Thankfully, polio is now an extremely rare disease, with only 51 wild cases of the virus being recorded in 2025, but before vaccines were widely available, it was one of the most-feared diseases in the US, leaving thousands of people - mostly children - paralyzed.

Iron lungs helped to save thousands of lives during the epidemics, but were only intended to be used for a short time.

The machines were slowly phased out by the late 1950s as vaccination campaigns expanded, and other breathing devices which were inserted directly into the throat began to be used instead.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, widespread vaccination reduced annual US polio cases to fewer than 100 in the 1960s, and fewer than 10 in the 1970s.

Polio was declared eliminated in the US in 1979, meaning it was no longer routinely spread among the public.

According to CNN, in later years, Lillard used the internet to learn about many topics, including her disease, which had left her paralyzed from the neck down, though she regained the use of her legs and partial use of her left arm through therapy, and was able to spend many years living independently and even making her own meals.

Lillard even met her husband online, having met him on a chat room following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, after she wanted to understand more about what happened.

According to McVey, Lillard spent over 20 years speaking to Baha Salh, who was from Egypt, until he was finally able to obtain a visa to travel to Oklahoma, where they finally married in February.

McVey added: "They were really soul mates. He’s extremely brokenhearted."

During the pandemic, Lillard - who already had less than 25 percent lung capacity - contracted Covid-19 twice, making the last five years of her life extremely difficult as it became harder for her to breathe. She spent almost 24 hours a day within the iron lung for the last two years of her life, according to McVey.

In recent years, McVey and Lillard had desperately searched for someone who would be able to fix the iron lung, which was one of several Lillard had had in her lifetime.

McVey tearfully added: "But since she’s the last one, we don’t need that anymore."

Featured image credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images