She contracted COVID-19 twice, and then developed long COVID, needing to rely on the iron lung around the clock.

She’d been using an iron lung since the age of 5, since 1953, but what ultimately did her in was the combination of long COVID and a failing iron lung.

Lillard struggled with access to healthcare, and last year, a tornado knocked out power to her iron lung. Her husband, Baha Seleh, gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until help arrived.

If the the health care system worked, or if they were wealthy, she wouldn’t have been done in by a dilapidating iron lung.