Last U.S. polio patient who used an iron lung dies at 78

A young friend on my street ended up in an iron lung for life after getting polio. Parents were very scared b/c the way it was transmitted wasn't known. When the Saulk polio vaccine came out in 1955, families lined up around the block to get it, with NO hesitation.

Being in an iron lung is preferable to him??? My cousin contracted polio the same year the cure was discovered. Wore a brace all her life. Now older, she deals with Post-polio syndrome, group of symptoms that can show up 30 to 40 years after the first polio illness. She still suffers. Reality.

A cousin of my mom’s was in an iron lung due to polio and, as she put it, died young but maybe not soon enough. Hideous existence.

My father contracted polio at age 6, was in an iron lung for weeks as a child, and walked with crutches. He had a long, fulfilling life, but he dealt with the effects of the disease until he died. I sat on his lap when I received the polio vaccine as a child. Hellfire for all of these charlatans.

My uncle told us of his time with polio in an iron lung & how thrilled he was that we could be protected… it wasn’t philosophical; he loved that I could play hockey - a game he could only dream of playing due to polio’s damage

I grew up with kids on crutches and a cousin in an iron lung because of polio. These people are sadistic murderers & I hope to see them pay one day.

When the reckoning comes, I say we sentence them to life in an Iron Lung with no possibility of parole.

My first cousin died of polio at 2 years of age. She died in my mother’s arms. She and her sister told turns holding the baby as she struggled to breathe. This was before the invention of the iron lung which might have saved the baby.

While training to be a recon pilot during World War 2, my great-grandfather contracted polio and spinal meningitis. He survived thanks to an iron lung and several years recovering in an Army hospital. Despite his new life w/ paraplegia, he went on to marry, had EIGHT kids, and started a company.

Weird Al’s first album had a song titled “Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung” and I’m willing to bet no one under 30 knows what an iron lung is.

My mum's bestie died in an iron lung & left 2 little kids. My guy's aunt, same. MY bestie wore a back brace from age 6 to 12 and my aunt wore a leg brace her whole life. Polio is a brutal devastating disease, but I was vaxxed as soon as it was available. Fuk these murderous monsters for all eternity

My aunt spent a year in an iron lung and 70 years dealing with post polio syndrome. I want to shake every one of these idiots like a bottle of vinaigrette.

The only “massive medical fraud” is RFK Jr. At polio's peak in the 1940s and 1950s, it would kill or paralyzed more than half a million people every year. I’m guessing he & Trump are buying stock in an iron lung company.

My father-in-law died young of post-polio syndrome. He spent his teenage years in an iron lung. RFKJr & Mr. Gorton are building their empire on death, injury, and anguish. They are evil men who serve destruction.

My grandmother had polio. Maybe some of these anti-vaxxers, who are likely vaccinated themselves, need to spend a little time in an iron lung. Ridiculous that anyone would question the vaccine’s success.