Dianne Odell

I was flipping thru' the pages in today's BB and came across this article entitled "Woman who spent life in iron lung dies".

Yep, this woman named Dianne Odell lived 58 of her 61 years in an iron lung. Mind you, its not those artificial lungs made of iron embedded into the body. Its a reportedly 750 pound iron machine covering her from neck to legs, as shown in the pic:


I was AWED when I searched and read articles about her. What a strong lady she is.
Imagine living in such a way on your back for 51 years.

WOW.. Not only that, she never lets this way of living stop her from having the education she wanted and also to pursue her dream of writing a book.

How hard is it for her to write a book?
- Her hands are in the machine, so she can't write, which means the only form is through voice recognition software
- She can only talk when her lung exhales.
- In the 1980s and 1990s, voice recognition computers are still relatively inefficient. To enter "CAT", she had to say "“Charlie-Alpha-Tango.”
- and so on..

The following are links I found informative on Dianne Odell, do read through:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 (Do watch the clip on the top right hand corner too. Shows Dianne talking)
Link 4

Sadly, she passed away on Tuesday due to a power outage (as the iron lung machine depends on electricity). Co-incidentally, the home generator also failed on that fateful day.

Nevertheless, with what she has gone through and how she influenced others with her beaming character, she is more than a hero to me.

What we can learn here is that we should not let our setbacks or weaknesses gloom our spirits and let it stop you from achieving your dreams and ambitions. If she can go through it all, why not us?

Rest in peace, Dianne Odell