Sometimes we hear about people who never give up. Even if they encounter many obstacles in life, they find the strength and will to make the best of it.

This was the case of Dianne Odell from Tennessee who was diagnosed with polio when she was 3 years old and, since then, she has been living connected to an iron lung.

Unfortunately, now, after 60 years of living like this, she died because of a power cut.

The iron lung that was working on electricity shut down because of a power outage. Her family members tried to provide the apparatus with an emergency generator, but they couldn’t find one. As the machine was breathing for Ms. Odell, when it stopped, she, as well, stopped breathing.

According to BBC News, her brother-in-law Will Beyer said that they tried everything to make her breathe, but it was all in vain.

Ms. Odell had been living with her parents all this time and, despite her condition, she had managed to get a high school diploma, take courses at a college and write a children’s book.

According to the Houston Chronicle, she was interviewed in 1994 by The Associated Press and she said then that she was happy with her life and with her loving family.
"I've had a very good life, filled with love and family and faith. You can make life good or you can make it bad," said Ms. Odell.

Iron lungs work by producing pressure on the lungs so that they can breathe for the patient. They were first used in the 1920s and in the 1950s they were replaced by positive-pressure airway ventilators.

Unfortunately, Ms Odell had a spinal deformity and couldn’t use this modern machine.