Ann Adams

Ann Adams (1926-1992) was an American artist who, after becoming almost fully paralyzed due to poliomyelitis, re-learned to draw by using a pencil held in her mouth.

After this, Adams spent five years, spending up to 24 hours a day, inside an iron lung due to her inability to breathe on her own.

Her husband was unable to cope with Adams' disability, divorcing her three years after contracting the illness and he received primary custody of their son due to her hospitalization.

Her parents cared for her during this time, and the March of Dimes (then the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) provided financial and medical assistance.

[4] Under the care of the Central Carolina Convalescent Hospital, she lay in a rocking bed which helped her body, paralyzed from the neck down, breathe.

Her mind was alert and she was given an adaptive device[6] invented by Frank Reck[7] and made by a dentist, Dr. Coble, that allowed her to type letters using her mouth.

[6][7] The Southeastern Respiration and Rehabilitation Center in Augusta, Georgia, provided Adams with a corset breathing device, where a rubber bag mimicked the negative pressure needed to breathe so that she could spend four hours a day where she was free of the iron lung; additionally, the center had a unique rocking bed and mouth hose device that allowed her to sleep normally, which meant that she could spend twelve hours a day outside the iron lung.