Iron Lungs are breathing assistance devices that were used to enable polio victims to survive. As polio recedes into memory here in the US (enough so that a lot of people have stopped vaccinating their kids for it, which might mean a sudden epidemic could bring it back big time), the number of people using iron lungs here has dwindled to just a tiny handful.
Here are some of their stories.
The Last of the Iron Lungs
Martha Lillard spends half of every day with her body encapsulated in a half-century old machine that forces her to breathe. Only her head sticks out of the end of the antique iron lung. On the other side, a motorized lever pulls the leather bellows, creating negative pressure that induces her lungs to suck in air.
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I'm surprised that no one has created something like a pacemaker for stimulation of the diaphragm. I'm also becoming enthusiastic about using the cat o' nine tails on the anti-vaxxers. A hundred lashes should just do it.
+Travis Bird Speaking of which, anti-vaxxer blocked.