Kenneth Glad
Her experience reached back to the years before vaccination brought a feared childhood disease under control. Decades later, an obsolete breathing device remained essential to her daily survival.
Martha Lillard, believed to have been the last US polio patient still using an iron lung, died on June 26 in Oklahoma. She was 78, according to The Associated Press.
Lillard contracted polio in 1953, shortly after turning 5. The disease paralyzed her from the neck down and left her dependent on respiratory assistance.
“They told her she wasn’t supposed to live past 20 years old,” her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told AP. “She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”
The iron lung enclosed Lillard’s body while her head remained outside. Changes in pressure inside the sealed chamber enabled her to inhale and exhale. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the machine as a cylindrical ventilator developed for people whose upper bodies were paralyzed by polio.
Its widespread use faded after vaccination sharply reduced infections. The last US cases of paralytic disease caused by domestically acquired wild poliovirus were reported in 1979, according to the CDC.
Life at home and online
Despite her reliance on the machine, Lillard lived alone and made her own meals for many years after therapy restored some movement in her legs and left arm, McVey told AP.
She later met Baha Salh, an Egyptian man, in an online discussion room. After more than 20 years of keeping in touch over the internet, the couple married in February 2026 after Salh obtained a visa to travel to Oklahoma.
An obituary published by Countywide & Sun said Lillard wrote poetry and music, volunteered with the Humane Society and helped animal-rescue efforts online. It also described her particular affection for beagles.
Lillard contracted COVID-19 twice, and McVey said she believed the lasting effects of the illness contributed to her sister’s worsening health. Her death certificate listed chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome.
McVey also told The Associated Press that, during the final two years of her life, Lillard spent nearly 24 hours a day in the iron lung.
Sources: The Associated Press, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Countywide & Sun
