Dianne Odell contacted polio three years prior to the polio vaccine be discovered. Polio was a crippling childhood disease which has since been eliminated in the United States. Since then Dianne had been confined to the iron lung.
The family home where Dianne Odell lived did have a back up generator but no one could get it going. Dianne had been cared for by her family and friends all her life. She was unable to leave the iron ling. The iron lung filled her lungs with the oxygen that her body was unable to do.
During Dianne Odell’s life she wrote a children’s book about a wishing star named “Blinky”. Dianne also completed high school and received her high school diploma. She also was able to take college courses.
The iron lung Dianne Odell used was a cylindrical tube that was sealed off at the neck. The tube was kept pressurized and seal at the neck. Today the iron lungs have been replaced with positive-pressure airway ventilators, but because of her spinal cord disfigurement she was unable were the new ventilators.
Even though Dianne Odell died in the iron lung, it is said that she lived a very positive life and had many friends.
