Astonishing! I had pneumonia in 1955 and was in hospital for a while. I always remember the girl in the “bed” next to me. It was an iron lung. She was always so cheerful and I was young and scared being away from home. I wonder what happened to her.
I was in one for 3 months when I was 6 years old, me and my pal went sledging and the large hill we used had been earmarked for a dry skiing slope, unbeknownst to us they had started to put concrete posts for the main fence in and we hit one at a fair set of knots.
Sledge split in two and Paul who was behind me slammed me into the post breaking most of my ribs and puncturing one of my lungs. Cue a 3 month stay in an iron lung and once it healed, a mostly fused solid rib cage which can be problematic sometimes because I have very little flex in my ribcage and a floating xiphoid process which freaks doctors out when you hook your fingers under it and pull it out.
Oh my Colin. That sounds grim! Tough thing to have at any stage of one’s life, but hard on a six year-old.