Power Loss Kills Woman in Iron Lung

A sad story out of Tennessee:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of a Tennessee woman who spent more than 50 years in an iron lung says she has died after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing.

Dianne Odell died early Wednesday. The 61-year-old had been confined to the 7-foot-long machine since she was stricken by polio at 3 years old.

Brother-in-law Will Beyer said family members were unable to get an emergency generator working for the iron lung after a power failure knocked out electricity to the Odell family's residence near Jackson.

Odell spent her life in the iron lung, cared for by her parents and other family members. Though confined inside the 750-pound apparatus, Odell managed to get a high school diploma, take college courses and write a children's book.

Polio has been eradicated for so long that we forget there are still people around who were affected by it. I worked with a guy for many years who was a few years older than me but had contracted polio as a child and spent two years in a Children's Hospital in Pennsylvania. He still wore a leg brace and walked with a significant limp, but otherwise lived a normal life, unlike the lady in the story above.