Remembering Martha Mason

I struggled over what to title this post on Martha Mason, a Lattimore woman I first met in person in 2003 when I was writing a story about her for The Star.
I wanted to title it "Finally free," but realized to say that would be an insult to Martha.
Martha lived for more than 60 years inside the confines of an iron lung. At one point it was believed she was the person in the US who had lived the longest in an iron lung.
But Martha wasn't trapped by the iron lung, which she was in as a result of having polio at age 11. (Her brother, Gaston, died from the virus.)
Instead, Martha never was the epitome of the express "the indomitable human spirit." Martha read the newspaper every day and sent emails to friends almost as often. She even managed to write a book while living inside the metal tube, something those of us who have no excuses can manage to do.
I remember meeting Martha and interviewing her just after her book, "Breathe," was published. I was still relatively new to journalism and was grateful to have gotten the interview. I was terrified of saying something wrong, of insulting Martha.
Five minutes or so into the interview, I became captivated by this woman - a woman whose every breath depended on the machine that enveloped her body like a tomb. She was fascinating, funny and completely unfazed by the lung.
Does that mean she never had a bad day? Probably not. But what she had that others lack is the belief that no matter what, we can rise above our circumstances and be the best we can be.
Yes, Martha is finally free. But then again, she was all along.