{"id":1714,"date":"2024-03-16T15:34:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T15:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/polio-paul-who-spent-most-of-the-past-70-years-in-an-iron-lung-dies-at-78\/"},"modified":"2024-03-16T15:34:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T15:34:38","slug":"polio-paul-who-spent-most-of-the-past-70-years-in-an-iron-lung-dies-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/polio-paul-who-spent-most-of-the-past-70-years-in-an-iron-lung-dies-at-78\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Polio Paul,\u2019 who spent most of the past 70 years in an iron lung, dies at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Paul Alexander, who spent the vast majority of the past 70 years in an iron lung and defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author, died Monday afternoon at the age of 78, according to his brother Philip Alexander. <\/p>\n

His death was announced Tuesday on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for his housing and health care. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely incredible to read all the comments and know that so many people were inspired by Paul. I am just so grateful,\u201d Philip said on the GoFundMe page. <\/p>\n

The exact cause of Paul\u2019s death is unclear. He was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago due to a Covid-19 infection but was no longer testing positive this week, Philip said. <\/p>\n

\u201cPaul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us,\u201d Christopher Ulmer, organizer of the GoFundMe fundraiser, said on the page. <\/p>\n

Paul developed polio in the summer of 1952, at the age of 6. It was the height of the polio epidemic; more than 21,000 paralytic polio cases were recorded that year in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. <\/p>\n

Today, polio is considered eliminated in the United States thanks to vaccines that were developed in the late 1950s, according to the CDC. <\/p>\n

The disease left Paul paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. He was placed in an iron lung, a large metal cylinder that varies air pressure to stimulate breathing, according to his autobiography. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors told us Paul could not possibly live,\u201d Doris Alexander, Paul\u2019s mother, said in his autobiography. \u201cThere were a few times when the electrical power failed and then the lung had to be pumped by hand. Our neighbors would run over and help us pump it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Paul spent the next seven decades in an iron lung. In March 2023, he was declared the longest surviving iron lung patient in the world by the Guinness World Records. <\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s ambitions were not limited by his condition. He learned breathing techniques that allowed him to leave the iron lung for a few hours at a time. He graduated college, earned a law degree and went on to practice as a courtroom attorney for 30 years. <\/p>\n

He also self-published his autobiography, \u201cThree Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung,\u201d titled after the accomplishment of learning how to breathe independently for at least three minutes \u2013 a feat that took him a year to master and was rewarded with a dog, according to the book. <\/p>\n

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