It truly is special when history collides with us in what I like to call “the now”! For Rotarians this rather special phenomenon happened this year - on June 26, 2026, when we lost the last Polio survivor who was on an Iron Lung. Her name was Martha Ann Lillard. She was born in 1948 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a town of approximately 31,400 people in the 2020 census and not much larger than when Martha Ann was born in ’48 when there were approximately 22,400 residents.

Life for Martha Ann was fairly normal for a mid-western girl, right up until her fifth birthday in 1953, when she first experienced symptoms of Polio. She recalled waking up that morning to a bright sunny day, but when she started to sit up, she found her neck was killing her and she couldn’t raise her head off the pillow. In an interview for KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 just eight days before her passing, she recalled how four days after that first day she went unconscious, recalled how she felt she couldn’t breathe, nor could she move her arms or her legs. Martha Ann had contracted Polio. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, it was a mere two years before the polio vaccine was introduced to the public in general here in the States. The Iron Lung was invented in 1927 and had its first successful use in 1928 - 25 years before Martha Ann would need it to save her life.

The Iron Lung is a full-body ventilator and was seldom used for treatment with children because they generally fought it. However, little Martha Ann Lillard didn’t. She stated back in June 2026, “I liked it. It felt good to breathe.” And she did just that with it for 73 years, right up until she passed away this June. Nothing else they tried with her seemed to work as well as the old Iron Lung. Her first six months she spent in the hospital spending 23 hours per day in the Iron Lung, but as time went on and her lungs relearned to breathe her time in the Iron Lung steadily decreased. Though her right arm remained paralyzed and she had to survive on about 25% of her lung capacity along with Scoliosis, she managed to live a fairly normal life by anyone’s standards. She eventually was able to walk. She was known to be very creative. She was a painter, wrote poems and composed music for the piano that was played only with the left hand.

Though most other polio survivors over time transitioned to other more modern types of respirators, Martha Ann stayed with the Iron Lung, because as she said, the Iron Lung was simply more effective than any other type. “I tried all of them," she stated in her last interview. Over time, finding parts for that last operational Iron Lung became harder and harder and it just started to break down. In the end it wasn’t the failure of the old Iron Lung; it was post-polio syndrome and long COVID that eventually took her from us in June. We have truly witnessed the passing of an era.

We Rotarians see great strides in our fight to rid our world of this debilitating disease, and we will continue the fight until we claim the ultimate victory over it.  Each time you hear stories such as this, I hope it will rekindle the resolve to keep fighting, keep giving and keep moving forward until the battle is won. The journey ended for Martha Ann Lillard this June, but for us it’s a battle cry to keep fighting and keep giving….We are so close and every dollar counts. Do remember that every dollar we give, the gates Foundation matches it, 2 to 1.

If I can personally assist you in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via cell or email. Until next time, I’m here to help and together we will…. Create Lasting Impact!