Paul Alexander: Texas Man who Lived 70 Years With Iron Lung After Polio Diagnosis, Dies at 78

Dallas – Paul Alexander, a North Texas native who lived with an Iron lung for the past 70 years passed away at 78. According to CBS News, Alexander's obituary stated that he passed away on March 11 and his death was announced on his GoFundMe page by his brother Philip Alexander. The page was set up to help pay for his housing and health care. While the exact cause of his death remains unclear, Alexander was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago after he tested positive for COVID-19. 

“It is absolutely incredible to read all the comments and know that so many people were inspired by Paul. I am just so grateful,” Philip said on the GoFundMe page. “Paul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us,” Christopher Ulmer, organizer of the GoFundMe fundraiser mentioned on the page. Alexander developed polio in 1952 when he was just 6 years old. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States at that time was witnessing a polio epidemic – with more than 21,000 paralytic polio cases recorded in that particular year. The fatal disease left Paul paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. As a result of this, he was placed in an iron lung, which is a large metal cylinder that varies air pressure to stimulate breathing. 

Seven decades with an Iron lung 

Paul's family recalled that doctors lost hope and said that he wouldn't be able to survive long with the iron lung. However, Paul defied all odds and spent the next seven decades in an iron lung. “The doctors told us Paul could not possibly live,” Doris Alexander, Paul’s mother, said in his autobiography. “There were a few times when the electrical power failed and then the lung had to be pumped by hand. Our neighbours would run over and help us pump it.” In March 2023, he was declared the longest-surviving iron lung patient in the world by the Guinness World Records. Despite all hindrances, Alexander graduated college, earned a law degree and went on to practice as a courtroom attorney for 30 years. He even practised breathing techniques that would have allowed him to leave the iron lung for a few hours at a time. He eventually wrote an autobiography titled, “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung,” in which he recalled the time he accomplished learning how to breathe independently for at least three minutes.