Paul Alexander, the man who spent 70 years inside an iron lung, died at the age of 78 in Texas, United States on Monday. A fundraiser for his healthcare confirmed the news on his GoFundMe page.
“After surviving polio as a child, he lived over 70 years inside an iron lung. 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. Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered,” Christopher Ulmer, who had set up the page, said in the update.
Paul Alexander, widely known as “Polio Paul”, contracted the viral disease in the summer of 1952 when he was six years old and was left paralysed from the neck down. He was rushed to hospital in Texas after developing symptoms and woke up inside the mechanical lung. He was forced to live inside the 600-pound metallic structure after being struck down by polio.
A college graduate who went on to become a successful lawyer and author, despite battling a deadly polio infection that left him bedridden and constricted within an ‘iron lung’.
In his 70 years inside the lung machine at the hospital, Paul finished his graduation, became a lawyer and went on to become a published author. His story travelled around the world, positively influencing people.
Paul was born in 1946 when the US was undergoing its worst polio outbreak in history, with almost 58,000 cases – mostly children.