‘I was born while my mother was in an iron lung’

Polio was rife in the mid-20th Century, and symptoms could range from none at all to lifelong paralysis or death.

The iron lung, which has now been replaced by modern ventilators, was used to help patients whose lungs had been affected by paralysis.

A motor would suck air in and out of the cylinder, forcing the lungs to expand and take in air. When the air was let back in, the lungs would deflate.

Historical records suggest women who gave birth while dependent on an iron lung would either briefly be removed to deliver the baby or the bottom half of the cylinder would be opened up. They would have been given alternative forms of ventilation to help with breathing during the birth.

Polio particularly affected young children. Fortunately, Susan was, overall, a healthy baby.

“I didn’t speak apparently until I was about three, so they thought my vocal cords might have been affected,” she said.

At its peak in the 40s and 50s, polio killed or paralysed more than half a million people a year worldwide.

Elizabeth was permanently disabled by the disease.

She never walked again and was unable to hold her children, which her toddler found particularly hard as “she wasn’t the mother he had known”, Susan said.

When their mother was in hospital, the children moved in with their aunt. She encouraged them to call her mother.

“My father was travelling up to London every day so wouldn’t have had much of a hand in looking after us,” Susan said.