My Discovery of the Porta-Lung

Before I speak further about the Porta-Lung, I’d like to say a few words about its predecessor, the Iron Lung. The old fashioned Iron Lung is a just a bigger model of the Porta-Lung. After living on positive pressure for three years, the Iron Lung opened up a whole new world and really changed my life forever. The Iron Lung became like a friend to me at the young age of five. I used to call it “the yellow submarine.” I must admit, it was a little scary at first for a little girl of 5 yrs old (I’m a small person) to get in this huge machine that weighed 1000 lbs! Once I began to use it though, I adjusted to it very well and it truly was a lifesaver for me. It gave me the opportunity to shed the tubes of the positive pressure respirator and strengthened my lungs to the point where I only needed the aid of a ventilator during the night. There were periods during my childhood when I didn’t need to use any kind of respirator. However, things changed when I reached puberty because my scoliosis got worse, making it more difficult to breathe. After an evaluation, the doctors suggested I should use the Iron Lung every night henceforth. We moved a lot and since the Iron Lung was too big to move with us, I started to use a more portable negative pressure ventilator called a turtle shell which was run by a compressor the size of vacuum cleaner. This ventilator was not powerful enough so gradually I began to lose strength in my lungs and catching a cold sent me into respiratory failure where I was hospitalized.
In 1992, I discovered the Porta-Lung. After using the Porta-Lung for the first time, I felt like I had known it all my life since I had grown accustomed to the Iron Lung. As a user of both machines, I can tell you that everything about the Porta-Lung is exactly the same as the Iron Lung, just a smaller version.
I have been using the Porta-Lung for 16 years now and according to my pulmonologist, it has increased my respiration levels to 100%. For one who has a severe scoliosis and paralysis in the left lung, the Porta-Lung has done wonders for me! It has improved my quality of life and has allowed me to be as independent as possible.