Iron Lung Warriors

Yesterday, I talked about being placed inside a machine at the height of my bout with polio years ago. It turns out that the experience was common among the many victims of the disease.

The machine, as I jiust learned it, is actually called the 'iron lung' , sometimes called a tank respirator, and was a device closely associated with polio and its victims. Since polio is known to attack, among others, the chest muscles, the victims would normally experience difficulty in breathing.

Apparently, this was the very same experience that I had at the time, although like I said before, that episode of my life was a complete blank even now.

Anyway, as I read more about the iron lung, I came across several people, also victimized by polio, who lived practically all of their human lives inside this contraption. One of them, Dianne O'dell, has actually lived inside her very own iron lung for nearly 55 years. This was after she contracted polio when she was only three years old.

Despite the unusual and difficult set-up, Dianne has lived a full life. Weddings, birthdays and many family celebrations were held at the O'dell home so Dianne can attend.

She even got a high school diploma, topped by a scholarship that she used to be able to study for a short time at a local university.

Read about her amazing story at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05100/485341.stm