Paul Alexander, known as “The Man in the Iron Lung” or “Polio Paul” passed away at the age of 78 on Tuesday (March 12), leaving behind a legacy of resilience and inspiration after surviving polio. Paul was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, a highly infectious viral disease caused by the poliovirus, in 1952 at only six years old. Born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas, Texas, USA, the polio survivor went on to spend the rest of his life encased in a machine known as an iron lung, also known as a “negative pressure ventilator,” a medical device used to help individuals with respiratory paralysis, a condition Paul suffered from.
As per a 2020 article published by The Guardian, Paul recovered from his initial infection but was left almost completely paralyzed from the neck down from polio, and what his diaphragm could no longer do for him, the iron lung did. Paul Alexander, the “Man in the Iron Lung” or “Polio Paul,” passed away at 78, leaving behind a legacy of resilience after surviving polio Share icon Image credits: Special Book by Special Kids Paul spent the next 72 years of his life laying flat on his back, his head resting on a pillow and his body encased in the metal cylinder from the neck down, with air sucked out of the cylinder by a set of leather bellows powered by a motor; the negative pressure created by the vacuum forcing his lungs to expand. Despite his condition, the resilient boy went on to go to college, become a lawyer, and as well as a published .