Martha Lillard, believed to have been the last polio survivor in the United States still dependent on an iron lung, has died in Oklahoma at the age of 78.
Lillard died on June 26 in her hometown of Shawnee, according to her obituary and family members. She contracted polio in 1953, shortly after turning five, two years before the first widely used polio vaccine became available in the United States. The illness left her almost completely paralyzed and unable to breathe reliably without mechanical assistance.
Doctors reportedly told her family that she was unlikely to live beyond early adulthood. Instead, she survived for more than seven decades while building a life around the large cylindrical machine that helped her lungs function.
An iron lung is a negative-pressure ventilator. A patient’s body is placed inside the sealed metal cylinder while the head remains outside. Changes in air pressure inside the machine cause the chest to expand and contract, drawing air into and out of the lungs. The machines saved thousands of people whose respiratory muscles were paralyzed during the major polio outbreaks of the 20th century.
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Lillard described entering the machine as a relief when she was struggling to breathe. Although she used it throughout her life, she was not permanently confined to it during her younger years.
As a child, she attended school for limited periods and completed additional lessons through tutoring and an intercom system that allowed her to participate remotely. Her family also arranged road trips using a specially designed trailer capable of transporting the iron lung. She later lived independently, drove for a period and pursued creative interests including poetry, music and painting.
Her sister, Cindy McVey, said Lillard remained determined to experience as much of life as possible despite her physical limitations and the difficult prognosis she received as a child.
Lillard’s health reportedly worsened in later years following post-polio syndrome and a prolonged case of COVID-19. Her death certificate listed chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome as causes of death, according to her family. McVey said she believed long-term complications from COVID-19 also contributed.
Post-polio syndrome can affect survivors decades after their original infection. The condition can cause renewed or worsening muscle weakness, fatigue and pain, and estimates suggest it affects between 25% and 40% of polio survivors. It is not contagious and does not represent a new poliovirus infection.
Maintaining Lillard’s iron lung became increasingly difficult as the technology disappeared from routine medical use. Replacement parts were scarce, and few technicians still knew how to repair the aging equipment. Modern ventilators generally use positive pressure delivered through a mask or airway tube, making the much larger negative-pressure machines largely obsolete.
Lillard’s death follows that of Paul Alexander, the Texas lawyer and author who spent more than 70 years using an iron lung after contracting polio as a child. Alexander died in 2024, also at age 78. After his death, Lillard was widely described as the last known American still regularly using the device because of polio.
Before vaccination, polio was among the most feared childhood diseases in the United States. The country recorded more than 20,000 cases of paralytic polio in 1952, and severe infections could damage the nerves controlling movement and breathing.
The introduction of the inactivated polio vaccine in 1955 caused cases to fall dramatically. The last locally acquired U.S. cases involving wild poliovirus were recorded in 1979, although imported and vaccine-derived cases have occurred since then. Health authorities warn that maintaining high vaccination levels remains essential because the virus has not yet been eradicated worldwide.
Why It Matters
Lillard’s life represents both the devastating long-term consequences of polio and the medical progress that made iron lungs largely unnecessary in the United States.
Her experience is also a reminder that eliminating local transmission does not mean the disease has disappeared globally. Continued vaccination protects children from paralysis while preventing the return of a disease that once placed thousands of patients inside mechanical respirators.
What Comes Next
Lillard’s family and community are expected to continue honoring her resilience and advocacy for polio awareness. Her death may also renew interest in preserving the few remaining iron lungs as historical medical artifacts.
Public-health officials will continue emphasizing routine childhood vaccination as international organizations work toward the complete global eradication of poliovirus.
Martha Lillard lived for decades with the help of an iron lung after contracting polio as a child.
Oklahoma woman Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, dead at 78 https://t.co/QBQDEcecpW pic.twitter.com/KZzKohfBlj
— New York Post (@nypost) July 11, 2026
