Last Known Person in the US Using an Iron Lung Passes Away

On June 26, 2026, the last known person in the United States using an iron lung passed away. The Greensboro News & Record story mentioning the passing included much information on the life of the last known woman in North Carolina to do so. You can read both of these stories at the links below.

Martha Lillard, 78, the last American to use an iron lung, died June 26, 2026 . Read her story here.

Here’s a 2003 profile of Martha Mason, a Wake Forest graduate and North Carolina native, who at the time of her death in 2009 had lived in an iron lung for 61 years.