Power failure kills woman in iron lung

subscribe

A woman who defied medical odds and spent nearly 60 years in an iron lung after being diagnosed with polio as a child died after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing.

Dianne Odell, 61, had been confined to the iron lung – a 7-foot metal tube – since she was stricken by polio at age 3.

Family members were unable to get an emergency generator working after a power failure knocked out electricity to the Odell family's residence near Jackson, northeast of Memphis, brother-in-law Will Beyer said.

"We did everything we could do but we couldn't keep her breathing," Beyer said. "Dianne had gotten a lot weaker over the past several months and she just didn't have the strength to keep going.''

The Madison County Sheriff's office said emergency crews could do little to help. The local power company reported spotty power outages in the area because of a tree that fell on a power line.

Despite deformity from bulbo-spinal polio that stopped her from using a portable machine, Odell earned a high school diploma and wrote a children's book.

Related News

EU Flag

No deal Brexit could trigger electricity shock for Northern Ireland

LONDON - Such a scenario could see thousands of electricity generators being requisitioned at short notice and positioned on barges in the Irish Sea to help keep the region going, a Whitehall document quoted by the Financial Times states.

An emergency operation could see equipment being brought back from places like Afghanistan, where the UK still has a military presence, the newspaper said.

The extreme situation could arise because Northern Ireland shares a single energy market with the Irish Republic.

The region relies on energy imports from the Republic because it does not have enough generating capacity itself, and the UK is aiming…

READ MORE

US Automakers Will Build 30,000 Electric Vehicle Chargers

READ MORE

doug ford

PC Leader Doug Ford vows to fire Hydro One CEO, board if elected

READ MORE

New bill would close loophole that left hundreds of Kentucky miners with cold checks

READ MORE

clock

Renewable growth drives common goals for electricity networks across the globe

READ MORE