Martha Mason

Martha Mason (May 31, 1937 – May 4, 2009) was a writer born and based in Lattimore, North Carolina who spent 61 years in an iron lung. Early life On the 13th of September, during the 1948 epidemic Mason was stricken by polio. A year later, Mason was sent home from the hospital in an iron lung, with help from the March of Dimes foundation, in which she remained for the rest of her life. She preferred the iron lung to newer ventilators as it did not require intubation, surgery, or hospitalization. Her brother, Gaston Mason, died of polio three days before her own polio symptoms began. She completed high school with daily visits from her teachers, and graduated first in her class with highest honors. Mason moved to Boiling Springs with her parents to enroll in Gardner-Webb College (now University), earning an associate degree at age 21. She then attended (again with her parents' accompaniment) Wake Forest College (also now University), earning a bachelor's degree in English in 1960. She was first in her classes at both colleges. She received an honorary doctorate from Gardner-Webb University in May 2004.