Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, dies at 78 in Oklahoma

Martha Lillard, who relied on an iron lung since childhood after polio, died June 26 at 78 — her sister says long‑haul COVID and chronic pulmonary failure contributed.
Despite paralysis, she lived independently for years, regained some movement with therapy, wrote poems and songs, and volunteered rescuing beagles.
She met her husband in an online chatroom and married him after more than 20 years of long‑distance friendship—her life also highlights how vaccines all but eliminated polio in the U.S.