Who is Paul Alexander? All about the Polio-infected man who has survived living inside an iron lung for seven decades

Paul Alexander, also known as "Polio Paul," has survived for 70 years by living in an iron lung. He contracted the disease when he was only six years old in Dallas, Texas, during a polio outbreak in the United States in 1952.

In August 2023, Paul, 77, was recognized as the longest-running iron lung patient by the Guinness World Records, as per The New York Post. He is currently paralyzed from the neck down but has graduated high school, passed the bar, and even written a memoir called Three Minutes for a Dog.

The man in the iron lung still lives at his house in Dallas, Texas, and gets help doing his everyday routine from a 24-hour care facility. According to The Mirror, Paul has refused modern treatments for his ailments and continues to live in his iron lung.

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The story of Paul Alexander, the man in the iron lung

The United States was struck with a major polio outbreak in the 1950s, and around 58,000 cases were documented. Paul Alexander was playing outside his house in 1952 when his mother noticed his feverish face as he entered.

His family took the six-year-old to the Parkland hospital, where it was confirmed that he had polio, as per The Mirror.

However, due to overcrowding, he was initially ignored until one doctor examined the severity of his condition and performed an emergency tracheotomy to relieve the congestion in his lungs. He was later placed in an iron lung, along with hundreds of other children. As per The Guardian, Paul Alexander recalled the incident, saying,

"As far as you can see, rows and rows of iron lungs. Full of children."

By 1979, Paul Alexander was paralyzed from the waist down and had been living in an iron lung for almost seven decades.

According to Medscape, an iron lung, which was invented in 1928, is an airtight capsule. It covers the patient's entire body except the head and suctions in oxygen via negative pressure. The procedure forces the lungs to expand, which allows Paul to breathe.

According to Guinness World Records, he is the only patient alive who is still using an iron lung. Since the late 1970s, technology has advanced significantly, and the need for such a machine has stopped completely. However, Paul Alexander said in an interview with the Guardian in 2020 that he was now used to the "old iron horse."

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Paul's academic achievements

At the age of 76, Paul Alexander has accomplished a lot despite his extreme living conditions. Academically, he passed high school in 1967 from W. W. Samuell High School, and then earned his bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin in 1978 and 1984, respectively.

He even took up a job teaching legal terminology to court stenographers before passing the bar and fulfilling his dream of becoming a lawyer in 1986.

Paul Alexander wrote his memoir Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung, which was published in April 2020, according to the Guardian. It took him eight years to finish his book, as he "used the plastic stick and a pen to tap out his story on the keyboard, or dictating the words to his friend."

The New York Post released an interview with Paul on August 31, 2023, where he said,

"I wanted to accomplish the things I was told I couldn't accomplish and to achieve the dreams I dreamed."

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As of 2023, Paul still lives inside his iron lung, although he has learned how to breathe outside the capsule for short periods with a technique called "frog breathing." He told The Guardian that he wants to inspire people to go for their dreams as well.