JULY 11, 2026

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

Martha Lillard, the last known polio patient in the United States who used an iron lung, died on June 26 in Oklahoma at age 78. She had relied on the iron lung since being diagnosed with polio at age 5. Her sister, Cindy McVey, said Lillard's death was attributed to the effects of long-haul COVID-19, while her death certificate lists chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome as causes.

Lillard was five years old when she contracted polio, a disease that paralyzed her from the neck down and left her dependent on the iron lung — a large cylinder that used changes in air pressure to force air in and out of her lungs — for the rest of her life. Doctors told her family she was not expected to live past 20, according to McVey, who described her sister as having "the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life."

Despite her physical limitations, Lillard built a life of considerable scope. She attended grade school for two hours a day and was tutored otherwise, later participating in high school through a phone-intercom system that connected her to teachers and classrooms at Shawnee High School. Her family took road trips to Missouri using a custom trailer, with her father calling ahead to hotels to confirm doorways were wide enough for the machine. Lillard was even able to drive for a period of time, and with physical therapy regained partial use of her left arm and some use of her legs.

In later years, the internet opened further connections. Lillard became active online, using it to research her disease and explore a wide range of topics. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, she entered an online chat room seeking to understand what had happened and met Baha Salh, a man in Egypt. The two communicated online for more than 20 years before he was able to obtain a visa; they married in February of this year. "They were really soul mates," McVey said. "He's extremely brokenhearted."