India, July 12 -- Martha Ann Lillard, believed to be the last person in the United States to rely on an iron lung after surviving polio, has died at the age of 78. Lillard died on June 26 in Oklahoma after living with the effects of polio for more than seven decades.

Her sister, Cindy McVey, said long-haul COVID-19 significantly worsened her health. Her death certificate lists chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome as the causes of death.

Lillard contracted polio shortly after turning five. Doctors reportedly told her family she was unlikely to live beyond the age of 20. Instead, she lived for another 58 years. McVey told the Associated Press, "She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her l...