A polio survivor, known as “Polio Paul”, has died after living for more than 70 years with the help of an iron lung.
Paul Alexander earned his nickname “the man in the iron lung” after being left paralysed by polio when he was just six, back in 1952, in Dallas, Texas. He almost lost his life before doctors saved him by using the 7ft iron lung.
The miraculous machine kept him alive for more than seven decades. A note on his GoFundMe page shared this week confirmed that he died on Monday, March 11.
The message reads: “Paul Alexander, ‘The Man in the Iron Lung’, passed away yesterday. After surviving polio as a child, he lived over 70 years inside of an iron lung.”
The note also mentions how Paul never let his condition stop him from achieving great things. It says, “In this time Paul went to college, became a lawyer, and a published author. His story travelled wide and far, positively influencing people around the world.”, reports the Mirror.
Praise was also given to Paul’s inspirational personality: “Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered. Paul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us.”
Included in this heartfelt announcement was a message from his brother, Philip, who expressed his gratitude towards everyone who contributed to his brother’s fundraiser. He said: “I am so grateful to everybody who donated to my brother’s fundraiser. It allowed him to live his last few years stress-free. It will also pay for his funeral during this difficult time.”
He added, “It is absolutely incredible to read all the comments and know that so many people were inspired by Paul. I am just so grateful.”
Christopher Ulmer, the organiser of the fundraising page, has stopped accepting new donations. The appeal had gathered over £111,765 ($143,000), which paid for Paul’s medical needs and home.
In 2020, Paul wrote his life story in a book called ‘Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung’. Guinness World Records acknowledged him as the person who has spent the most time living in an iron lung.
Paul faced an emergency when the machine he relied on started to fail, as we can see in a YouTube video by Gizmodo. Since Iron Lungs, first created in 1927, were no longer being made, Paul did not have many choices.
The film showed how worried he was about his “worn out” and “leaking” machine, which could not “produce enough pressure” to help him breathe properly. Then Brady Richards, from the Environmental Testing Laboratory, saw Paul’s plea for aid with his machine and offered to assist.
Richards managed to repair the machine at a mechanic’s garage after Paul’s original one seemed to be worn out. If it wasn’t for Brady, his “life would be down the tubes”, said Paul.
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In the mid-1900s, polio was a deadly disease that affected and killed thousands of people each year. This infectious disease attacked the nervous system and caused some form of paralysis in about half a percent of those who got it.
The US was declared free from polio in 1979 after a long campaign to give people the vaccine invented by Jonas Salk in 1953. When polio was at its worst, iron lungs were vital for those whose lungs were paralysed, as they couldn’t breathe on their own.
