Today I note with sadness the passing of Australian June Middleton at the age of 83. Remembered as a remarkable, strong lady, and as an inspiration, in April this year June marked 60 years confined to an Iron Lung. In 2006 her name was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person who had spent the longest time in such a device.

Middleton was struck down by Polio during the epidemic which ravaged Australia during the 1940s and 1950s. She was 22 and only months away from marrying her co-worker Noel. Polio left her with the ability to only move her mouth and eyes and she was told she would have to spend up to 18 hours a day in the iron lung. Prior to her illness she had been a keen sportswoman and adored dancing with Noel. He stayed by her side for five years but June felt there was no sense in wasting two lives, she said, and he moved on to marry and have children.

Despite being confined to the iron lung, June was able to maintain some independence and was able to go on regular outings and take annual holidays. It is reported that she kept a faded photograph of herself in her wedding dress in her room for the rest of her life.

The Iron Lung is hardly ever heard of these days with the near eradicaiton of polio in first world countries. An Iron Lung is pretty much as it sounds, a metal case that encompasses a persons trunk to create respiration in people who have lost the ability to use their own lungs. The person is placed into the central chamber and, while allowing the head and neck to remain free, an air-tight seal is created. The pressure within the chamber is controlled by pumps which periodically cycles the pressure from a negative to a positive state within the chamber, causing the chest cavity to expand and contract. This forces oxygen into and out of the lungs through the nose, mimicking the physiological action of breathing.

Poliomyelitis, commonly known as Polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person. It was one of the most dreaded childhood diseases of the 19th century and ravaged populations around the world until a vaccine - developed by Dr Salk of the US - was developed in the mid 1950s. A global effort to completely eradicate polio began in 1988 and as of 2006, polio remains endemic in only four countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.