Woman born in Iron Lung remembers mother

Alice died on October 17.

Alice and Gail appeared in the Addie (July 9, 2008) when the paper wrote about their story which was widely known, with Gail often referred to the “miracle baby”.
There was an outbreak of polio during the 1950s and Alice was diagnosed with this disease in her last few days of pregnancy.
Alice was admitted to hospital on November 15, 1956, due to give birth on November 17, two days later.
She was immediately placed into the iron lung after paralysis soon took over her normal body functions.
The iron lung is a form of a medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost.
It was too dangerous for Alice to be removed from the iron lung as she could not breathe properly on her own and that is how Gail was born inside this machine.
The iron lung saved both mother and daughter.
“She was in hospital for seven months after that and she recovered partially on the left side which she could move to a degree,” says Gail.
She says her mother was never a sick woman and lived a healthy life, knitting, baking and was very involved with the church.
“She had a good life and was a very happy and wonderful person.”
“I had a beautiful life after my birth and was a healthy child with a normal childhood and a loving mommy who even played Barbie dolls with me,” says Gail.
Alice taught Gail to bake, sew and knit and Gail says that her mother’s disability didn’t affect her at all.
“We learned to walk together,” she adds, “me as a toddler and my mother while busy recovering.”
Gail says her mother’s death was very unexpected as she contracted pneumonia in her last 11 days at the N17 hospital which badly compromised her breathing.