Last Of The Iron Lungs

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

(...)

 

Moving on, there are very few people left alive who use an iron lung. Now there is one less, following a power cut in Boston, which killed Dianne Odell, 61, who had relied on the machine since she was 3 years old.

[TAFKAG 70]

Moving on, there are very few people left alive who use an iron lung. Now there is one less, following a power cut in Boston, which killed Dianne Odell, 61, who had relied on the machine since she was 3 years old.

 

58 years in a metal box, the rest of eternity in a wooden one. Still, she sounds like she made more of her life than many of us.

 

Suck, suck your teenage thumb

Toilet trained and dumb

When the power runs out

We'll just hum...

[maryportfuncity 10,684]

TAFKAG said:

DevonDeathTrip said:

Moving on, there are very few people left alive who use an iron lung. Now there is one less, following a power cut in Boston, which killed Dianne Odell, 61, who had relied on the machine since she was 3 years old.

 

58 years in a metal box, the rest of eternity in a wooden one. Still, she sounds like she made more of her life than many of us.

 

Suck, suck your teenage thumb

Toilet trained and dumb

When the power runs out

We'll just hum...

 

 

Click on the link, she had a better telly than half of us posting on here. Has anyone got first dibs on it or can I offer the family a few quid?

 

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

Australian quadriplegic June Middleton, 82, who is today having a party to "celebrate" sixty years in an iron lung, longer than anyone else in the world.

[Monoclinic 39]

Australian quadriplegic June Middleton, 82, who is today having a party to "celebrate" sixty years in an iron lung, longer than anyone else in the world.

 

Why do people need to stay in iron lungs now that there are positive pressure ventilators. It seems a bit of a palava to take her down to St Kilda's in all that kaboodle.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

Australian quadriplegic June Middleton, 82, who is today having a party to "celebrate" sixty years in an iron lung, longer than anyone else in the world.

 

I guess June didn't know about Martha Mason, who has just died after sixty one years in an iron lung. I'm quite tempted to buy her "breathtaking" memoir "Breath: Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung", but I worry it might be a bit lacking in action.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

I'm not sure this is the correct thread, but here's an interesting article - from late last year - about the last three people in the USA still reliant on an iron lung.

 

https://gizmodo.com/the-last-of-the-iron-lungs-1819079169

[Sir Creep 7,071]

3 hours ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

I'm not sure this is the correct thread, but here's an interesting article - from late last year - about the last three people in the USA still reliant on an iron lung.

 

https://gizmodo.com/the-last-of-the-iron-lungs-1819079169

Yes, I think the topic came to light maybe last year (2 years ago?), some guy died in an iron lung and it mentioned some lonely stats like you have linked to.  I forget his claim to fame, wrote a book or summat, prolly about his wonderful iron lung existence.
SC

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

I thought I'd merge the few existing iron lung posts into one helpful, if slightly niche, thread. 

 

Apart from the three remaining American survivors, there may still be a few more ventilator dwellers scattered across the globe, so please post sightings here.

[Sir Creep 7,071]

If you want to take a real flyer on a name for a solo hit -- Fox News has a write up on one of the last iron lung users in the U.S.  Who knows....

"For over 35 years, a Missouri woman has enlisted her husband and a kind friend to help her go through the hourlong process of climbing into what is believed to be one of the last remaining iron lungs still functioning today. Mona Randolph, now 82, was struck by polio as an adult in 1956, and relies on the 75-year-old machine to live six nights per week, The Kansas City Star reported."
SC

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

1 hour ago, Sir Creep said:

If you want to take a real flyer on a name for a solo hit -- Fox News has a write up on one of the last iron lung users in the U.S.  Who knows....

"For over 35 years, a Missouri woman has enlisted her husband and a kind friend to help her go through the hourlong process of climbing into what is believed to be one of the last remaining iron lungs still functioning today. Mona Randolph, now 82, was struck by polio as an adult in 1956, and relies on the 75-year-old machine to live six nights per week, The Kansas City Star reported."
SC

 

Wrong thread 

https://forums.deathlist.net/topic/9453-last-of-the-iron-lungs/

 

[Sir Creep 7,071]

I had no idea such a lovely thread existed!  Admins, move this post!  lol

 

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Death Impends
Posts moved into Iron Lung thread

[DevonDeathTrip 2,366]

We may possibly be about to have a renaissance in the manufacture of iron lungs.  Not something I ever expected to post.

 

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/03/25/alberta-team-creates-breathing-machine-prototype-as-ventilator-backup/

[Deathray 2,942]

11 minutes ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

We may possibly be about to have a renaissance in the manufacture of iron lungs.  Not something I ever expected to post.

 

https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/03/25/alberta-team-creates-breathing-machine-prototype-as-ventilator-backup/

 

Can someone be brought off one of these things or are they stuck on them for life? 

 

I think I'd rather die if the latter. 

[Doc 84]

6 hours ago, Deathray said:

 

Can someone be brought off one of these things or are they stuck on them for life? 

 

I think I'd rather die if the latter. 

In my amateur opinion, I don’t think it would be permanent. Because the condition causing the difficulty breathing is temporary, I would imagine that the use of the machine would be temporary also. The only way I could see this being permanent is if the body gets used to the breathing being done manually by the machine. Even then I would think that they could slowly decrease the machine’s strength, to build back the lung’s strength. 

[maryportfuncity 10,684]

This thread's summat of a rave from the grave, then

 

Let's dig up another appropriate oldie - 

 

[arghton 6,868]

There are two iron lung users in the US according to NPR:

Martha Lillard, 73 or 74

Paul Alexander, 75 or 76 (Interview on youtube from January 2021)

 

The last known UK iron lung user died in 2017. Mona Randolph, mentioned in this thread, died in February 2019 aged 82.

I am not aware if there are any living iron lung users outside the US.

[arghton 6,868]

Long new interview of Paul Alexander from some days ago:

Martha Lillard has been sick with long covid for the last few months according to her twitter. I wonder if there are any others living or just two left

 

Edit: As far as I know Lillard isn't in it 24/7 while Paul Alexander can't leave it.

[ladyfiona 2,654]

I follow SBSK's channel and was slightly facinated with his story. He became a lawyer? Like how did he even practice properly? So many questions.

[gcreptile 11,069]

Anne Elizabeth Jenkins, Iron Lung survivor, has died at 71:

https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2023-01-09/a-polio-victim-who-survived-iron-lung-as-a-child-has-died-aged-71

[Ulitzer95 12,844]

2 hours ago, gcreptile said:

Anne Elizabeth Jenkins, Iron Lung survivor, has died at 71:

https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2023-01-09/a-polio-victim-who-survived-iron-lung-as-a-child-has-died-aged-71

Interesting.

Not a current user, however. I'm curious to know how many of them are in reality left. I think it's just Paul Alexander and Martha Lillard now.

[drol 12,133]

Paul Alexander was hospitalised with COVID , already discharged but "very weak".

[gcreptile 11,069]

Well, there's a german obit for Paul Alexander:

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/magazin/eiserne-lunge-polio-paul-alexander-texas-beatmung-e348607/?reduced=true

 

A reliable paper. They had interviewed him a couple of weeks ago. So it's maybe true, but strange that other media isn't following up yet.

[Lafaucheuse 4,073]

6 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

Well, there's a german obit for Paul Alexander:

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/magazin/eiserne-lunge-polio-paul-alexander-texas-beatmung-e348607/?reduced=true

 

A reliable paper. They had interviewed him a couple of weeks ago. So it's maybe true, but strange that other media isn't following up yet.

Tons of tweet saying he died yesterday but don’t know Where they get that from… 

[Ulitzer95 12,844]

1 hour ago, gcreptile said:

Well, there's a german obit for Paul Alexander:

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/magazin/eiserne-lunge-polio-paul-alexander-texas-beatmung-e348607/?reduced=true

 

A reliable paper. They had interviewed him a couple of weeks ago. So it's maybe true, but strange that other media isn't following up yet.

Means that Martha Lillard (born 1948) of Oklahoma is now the last known person living in an iron lung.