When Martha Mason was only 11 years-old, her big brother passed away from contracting polio. She didn’t want to tell her parents, but Martha realized she had the same symptoms.
Because of the terrible disease and lack of treatment at the time, she became paralyzed.
When she was 11 years-old, she contracted polio which left her paralyzed.
The disease also killed Martha’s brother, but when she realized she had the same symptoms she was too afraid to tell her parents.
Ever since then, she was stuck in an iron lung.
She lied in the horizontal, 7-foot-long, 800-pound iron cylinder that encased all but her head for decades.
It was assumed that Martha’s parents would outlive her.
Even though was in the tube, she still managed to graduate from high school with the highest honors and even host dinner parties in her later years.
She had to be horizontal her entire life, but Martha chose to keep the iron lung so she would still have her freedom in many ways. She was even able to write a book with the help of voice recognition software.
She was able to live at home with the help of caregivers.
Tragically, Martha passed away in 2009. She lived inside of an iron lung longer than anyone else. Her caregiver believed she was able to live in that situation for so long because of her strength and her strong desire to always keep learning.
Martha was an inspiration – please share her story.
SourceRead more: http://viralnova.com/61-years-iron-lung/
