Paul Alexander, the man who lived in an iron lung for 70 years, has died at the age of 78. A fundraiser for his healthcare confirmed Alexander, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on Monday without providing further details....CONTINUE READING
Alexander spent an extraordinary lifetime in the iron lung machine after contracting polio in 1952, aged six, which left him paralysed from the neck down.
Unable to breathe by himself, he spent a lifetime inside an iron lung, which he relied on to breathe for more than seven decades.
Paul Alexander died on Monday aged 78 after an extraordinary life in an iron lung. Paul Alexander pictured in a wheelchair in his youth. Alexander contracted polio aged six.
Despite being bound to the ventilator, Alexander was able to paint and write a book .Christopher Ulmer, organiser and disability-rights activist, said: ‘Paul Alexander, “The Man in the Iron Lung”, passed away yesterday.
An iron lung is a non-invasive negative-pressure ventilator, used to artificially maintain respiration during an acute polio infection.
They were first used in the 1920s and work by producing pressure on the lungs that causes them to expand and contract so that patients can breathe.
In most cases it would only be used for one or two weeks, until the patient could breathe independently, but some polio survivors with permanent respiratory paralysis rely on them daily.
They are now all but obsolete, replaced by positive-pressure ventilators such as modern day respirators. ‘After surviving polio as a child, he lived over 70 years inside of an iron lung. In this time Paul went to college, became a lawyer, and a published author.
‘His story traveled wide and far, positively influencing people around the world. ‘Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered.’
Over an extraordinary life, Alexander’s determination saw him achieve a number of remarkable achievements. At 21, he became the first person to graduate from a high school in Dallas without ever attending class in person.
He was accepted into Southern Methodist University in Dallas, after much difficulty with university administration and then got into law school at the University of Texas, Austin.
He pursued his dreams of becoming a trial lawyer, and represented clients in court in a three-piece suit and a modified wheelchair that held his paralysed body upright.
He also staged a sit-in for disability rights and published his own memoir, titled ‘Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung’.
The 155-page memoir was carefully crafted and took five years to complete; Paul wrote each word with a pen attached to a stick in his mouth.
Paul outlived both of his parents, his brother and even his original iron lung, which began leaking air in 2015, but was repaired by a mechanic Brady Richards, which was prompted by a YouTube video of Paul pleading for help.
Despite the availability of more modern ventilators, Paul decided to continue using the iron lung machine because he was used to it.
Other devices also require intensive surgery. Iron lungs became common place in hospitals in the 1940s and 50s as the only way to keep patients alive.
After surviving polio as a child, Alexander lived over 70 years inside of an iron lung. Man living in iron lung for over 60 years talks about experience.
Polio is an infectious viral disease that affects the central nervous system respiratory function and can cause muscle weakness and paralysis.
It is transmitted through contaminated water and food or contact with an infected person. It has largely been eradicated around the world after widespread use of the vaccine which came into use in the 1950s. The disease remains endemic in just four countries today: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan…CONTINUE READING>>
