Martha Lillard rests in her iron lung in February, in Shawnee, Oklahoma
Martha Lillard had just turned five years old when she was diagnosed with polio and relied on an iron lung to survive. Her sister said that she died on June 26 in Oklahoma, and she is the last polio patient in the United States to use this device.
She was 78 years old.“They told her she wasn’t supposed to live more than 20 years,” Lillard’s younger sister, Cindy McPhee, said Friday. “She had the enthusiasm and drive to continue living and make the most of her life.”McPhee attributes her sister’s death to the long-term effects of the coronavirus.Lillard slept in an iron lung cylinder that covered her body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of her lungs. As a child, she attended elementary school for two hours a day and received private lessons the rest of the time.
She attended Shawnee High School using a telephone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates through an intercom in her classrooms.Her family went on road trips to Missouri thanks to a custom trailer and her father called hotels to see if they had doors wide enough to accommodate the machine Lillard slept in. Lillard was even able to drive for a time.Later, the Internet helped Lillard stay informed and learn about all kinds of topics, including polio, which left her paralyzed from the neck down.
With treatment, Lillard regained partial use of her left arm and use of her legs.The Internet also allowed Lillard to meet her future husband, from Egypt, with whom she had communicated online for more than 20 years, McVeigh said. Lillard married Bahaa Saleh in February of this year, after he was finally able to obtain a visa to travel to Oklahoma. “They were truly soul friends,” McPhee said. “He’s absolutely heartbroken.”(AFP)
