Paul Alexander led a life unlike most others. He spent most of his life inside an iron lung and was one of the last people in the world to use the respirator, which dated back to 1928.
Despite his odd circumstances, he has had an extremely fulfilling life and has never accepted anything less.
“I will not accept anybody’s constraints on my life. Not going to do it. “My life is amazing.”
When Paul was six years old, he went inside his family’s home in a Dallas suburb and informed his mother that he was not feeling well. Since his birth in 1946, Paul had been a typical, vivacious, and energetic youngster, but something was definitely amiss today.
“Oh God, not my son,” Paul remembered his mother saying.
He followed the doctor’s advice and spent the next several days in bed resting, but the youngster definitely had polio and was not improving. He was unable to swallow, breathe, or hold anything less than a week after being ill.
His parents ultimately brought him to the hospital, where he joined many other youngsters who were having identical symptoms.
Before polio immunizations were available, the infection incapacitated almost 15,000 individuals. Polio, a very infectious sickness, can spread even if an infected individual shows no symptoms.
Polio symptoms include weariness, fever, stiffness, muscular pain, and vomiting. In rare circumstances, polio can result in paralysis and death.
A doctor checked Paul and declared him dead, but another doctor examined him and gave him another chance at life.
Paul received an iron lung after the second doctor performed an emergency tracheotomy.
When he awoke three days later, he found himself amid numerous rows of other toddlers encased in iron lungs.
“I wasn’t sure what had occurred. I experienced all kinds of fantasies, like if I’d died. I kept asking myself, “Is this what death is?” Is this the coffin? “Or have I gone to some undesirable place?” the Texas native said to As It Happens anchor Carol Off in 2017.
Paul, who also had a tracheotomy, was unable to talk, making the entire situation much more horrifying.
“I attempted to move but was unable to. Not even one finger. I attempted to touch anything to figure it out, but I was unsuccessful. So that was rather bizarre.”
The equipment, developed in the late 1920s, was the first to ventilate a person. The apparatus, known as the “Drinker respirator” in its early days, is completely sealed from the neck down and generates a negative pressure in the chamber, drawing air into the patient’s lungs. If the apparatus generates overpressure, it forces the air back out of the lungs, causing the patient to exhale.
Paul spent 18 months in the metal canister, recuperating from the original infection. And he was not alone. Statistics showed that 1952, the year Paul contracted the virus, was a bleak year.
In 1952, the virus infected over 58,000 persons in the United States, the majority of them youngsters. Unfortunately, 3,145 of them perished.
“As far as you can see, rows upon rows of iron lungs,” full of children,” he told The Guardian.
While others may have given up on life, Paul’s determination was simply strengthened.
He would hear physicians remark things like, “He’s going to die today” or “He shouldn’t be alive” as they passed him, and he wanted to prove them wrong.
And this is precisely what he did!
When he was released from the hospital in 1954, he instantly realized that his life had changed dramatically.
“People didn’t like me very much back then,” he admitted in a video interview in 2021. “I felt like they were uncomfortable around me.”
But with the support of Mrs. Sullivan, a therapist who visited him twice a week, his life gradually improved. His therapist agreed to purchase him a dog if he could “frog-breathe,” a method that involves trapping air in your mouth by flattening your tongue and expanding your neck without an iron lung for three minutes.
It was difficult work, but after a year, Paul was able to spend more and more time outside of the iron lung.
When he was 21, he became the first person to graduate from a Dallas high school with honors despite never having attended a single class. After focusing on college, he faced multiple rejections before receiving acceptance at Southern Methodist University.
“They said I was too crippled and did not have the vaccination,” he told me later. “After two years of harassing them, they finally accepted me on two conditions. One, that I get the polio vaccination, and two, that a fraternity would be accountable for me.”
He went on to graduate from Southern Methodist University and then study law at the University of Texas in Austin. He passed the bar exam and now practices law in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
“And I was a pretty damn good one too!”
Even after a 30-year career in the courtroom, he kept himself occupied by authoring a book that he typed entirely on his own using a pen linked to a stick.
Gizmodo reports that Paul was among the final humans residing in the now-defunct machine. He was confined to his old iron lung around the clock and spent the majority of his life in a can.
“I’ve traveled with it—put it in a truck and taken it with me. I went to college with it and lived in a dorm”. That terrified everybody,” he claimed.
Paul’s sort of iron lung has not been built in half a century since ventilators have become considerably more modern and complex.
Despite having access to the latest technology, the polio survivor preferred his metal chamber.
However, when the metal lung nearly failed seven years ago, the Dallas attorney was forced to make an urgent YouTube statement. Fortunately, there were still abandoned machines all around the country, so there were plenty of spare parts available. Paul has also received assistance from hobbyists who like exploring antique technologies.
The outfit fits! Please join us at Maggiano’s Northpark on Friday at 11:30 a.m. for World Polio Day. Our fantastic speaker, Paul…
Posted by the Rotary Club of Park Cities on Wednesday, October 22, 2014.
“A lot of people who had polio have died. What did they do with the iron lungs? I discovered them in barns. I discovered them in garages. I discovered these at junk shops. “Not much, but enough to scrounge [for] parts,” he explains.
Paul previously stated that he has been able to have such a meaningful life because he “never gave up.”
Following World Polio Day, Rotarians continue to be elated. If a guy with an iron lung like Paul Alexander can acquire a law degree and practice law, we can put an end to polio right now. Anything’s possible!
Posted by Rotary Club of Park Cities on Sunday, October 26, 2014.
“I wanted to accomplish the things I was told I couldn’t accomplish,” according to him, “and to achieve the dreams I dreamed.”
Polio has been largely eradicated in the United States since 1979. However, vaccine-derived polio infections still occur on occasion, which is cause for concern.
Paul Alexander’s cause of death
Paul Alexander, known as “The Man in the Iron Lung,” died in March 2024. Despite spending most of his life inside the metal machine that let him breathe, people closest to him remember him for his warmth and vivid nature rather than his illness.
His brother, Philip Alexander, offered personal recollections of their relationship, describing Paul as a “welcoming, warm person” whose “big smile” could instantly make anyone feel at ease.
“To me, he was just a normal brother,” Philip told the BBC. “We fought, we played, we loved, we partied, we went to concerts together—he was just a normal brother; I never thought about it.”
Philip also praised Paul’s tenacity and independence in the face of severe physical restrictions. “He was the master of his domain, helping people to help him,” he remarked, appreciating Paul’s ability to keep control over his life while requiring help with basic chores such as eating.
Paul was undoubtedly an inspiration. He built his life against all obstacles and had a brave and engaging tale, which I hope everyone who reads this will enjoy.
His persistence demonstrates that the only limitations are those we impose on ourselves. Share his story with your friends and family to inspire others.