Dianne Odell

Who was Dianne Odell?

Dianne Odell was a Tennessee woman who spent most of her life in an iron lung. She contracted "bulbo-spinal" polio at age 3 in 1950 and was confined to an iron lung for the rest of her life. Due to a spinal deformity caused by the polio, she was unable to change to a portable breathing device introduced in the late 1950s. Odell's condition was not as severe in youth and she could spend short periods outside the machine until her 20s, from then on she needed to be in it 24 hours a day. Caregivers could still slide Odell's bedding out of her iron lung for basic nursing care but only briefly.

Odell was one of the longest time users of an iron lung, being confined to it for nearly 60 years. Currently, it is estimated that only 30 people in the United States still rely on iron lungs but few users are confined to them all the time. Odell's Iron lung, which was seven feet long and weighed 750 pounds, produced positive and negative pressures that forced air into her lungs and then expelled it. She lay on her back with only her head exposed and made eye contact with visitors through an angled mirror. She was able to operate a television set with a small blow tube. She was cared for by her parents, other family members and aides provided by a nonprofit foundation.