• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Woman spent 60 years in Iron lung and died in most unfortunate way

Home> Community

Published 20:26 7 Dec 2023 GMT

Woman spent 60 years in Iron lung and died in most unfortunate way

She'd been inside the metal machine since she was three years old

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

Featured Image Credit: Star Centre/Heathline

Topics: Health

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

A woman who'd spent almost all of her life inside of an iron lung ended up dying in rather sad circumstances.

Dianne Odell was confined to her seven-foot-long metal tube since the age of three after contracting polio.

That infection was often the cause for people ending up inside iron lungs but since a vaccination programme was introduced, it’s now very rare.

The long metal cylinders were designed to stimulate breathing in patients, with near enough their entire body contained inside.

Advert

The 61-year-old lived at home inside the machine near Memphis, Tennessee.

But back in 2008, a thunderstorm knocked out the power to her home.

And as a result, the machine helping her to breathe was shut off.

This wasn’t the first time the iron lung had cut out, so her family were prepared.

Dianne Odell.
Star Centre

Advert

Her dad was a World War II veteran and had installed a generator into the backyard as back up power in case something were to happen.

However, the emergency generator didn’t start up properly.

Odell’s dad and brother-in-law, Will Beyer, then took it in turns to pump the iron lung by hand but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough.

As reported by The Independent, Beyer said: “We did everything we could do but we couldn't keep her breathing.

''Dianne had got a lot weaker over the past several months and she just didn't have the strength to keep going.''

Advert

Odell was paralysed by bubospinal polio at the age of three and was believed to be the longest survivor of the disease.

She spent her life in the 750-pound machine, with only her head exposed and made eye contact with visitors through an angled mirror.

Odell could also operate a TV using a small blow tube and would also write using a voice-activated computer.

She spent over 50 years in there.
Heathline

Despite being originally told by doctors as a child that she did not have long to live, Odell went on to graduate from high school, take courses at college and even write a children’s book.

Advert

Her family’s life revolved around looking after her, never leaving her at home alone and never taking holidays.

Even on Christmas Day, they would squeeze Odell and her big, long metal tube into the dining room for dinner.

Beyer added: “It was like having a sick child who never got better. But she was a very unique person, and her family took care of all her needs.

“To let her go is very hard, Dianne was always a fighter. No matter what anyone said, you couldn’t count her out.”

Choose your content:

11 hours ago
14 hours ago
16 hours ago
a day ago
  • 11 hours ago

    Shocking image shows what woman who spent £250k to become Barbie looked like before surgery

    The Danish woman claimed it takes 'a lot of courage to look this way'

    Community
  • 14 hours ago

    Woman who is a ‘hotwife’ explains how sex trend growing in popularity with couples has impacted her relationship

    It's not everyone's cup of tea but plenty are embracing it

    Community
  • 16 hours ago

    Baba Vanga and Living Nostradmus made same prediction for 2025 that could change everything we thought we knew

    Mark your calendars folks

    Community
  • a day ago

    Resurfaced clips of Buzz Aldrin reignite conspiracy theories after he 'admitted' moon landing was fake

    Buzz Aldrin was the second man to land on the moon... or was he?

    Community
  • Woman who 'died and spent three days in heaven' shares chilling discovery she made
  • Tragic story of woman who died with skin attached to her sofa after sitting in it for six years
  • Detective explained how they found woman who went missing at bus stop 60 years ago 'alive and well'
  • Heartbreaking moment firefighter who spent 10 years in a coma woke up to shocking revelation