Paul Alexander, who spent the majority of the past 70 years in an iron lung and defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author, passed away Monday afternoon at the age of 78, as confirmed by his brother Philip Alexander.
The news of his death was shared on Tuesday through a GoFundMe page that had been set up to support his housing and healthcare needs.
“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 expressed on the GoFundMe page.
The exact cause of Paul’s death remains unclear. He had been hospitalized three weeks ago due to a Covid-19 infection, but as of this week, he was no longer testing positive, according to Philip.
“Paul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us,” Christopher Ulmer, the organizer of the GoFundMe fundraiser, remarked on the page.
Paul contracted polio during the summer of 1952 at the age of 6, during the height of the polio epidemic in the United States, where over 21,000 paralytic cases were reported that year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today, thanks to vaccines developed in the late 1950s, polio is considered eliminated in the United States, as noted by the CDC.
The disease left Paul paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on an iron lung, a large metal chamber that uses changes in air pressure to facilitate breathing, as detailed in his autobiography.
“The doctors told us Paul could not possibly live,” recalled Doris Alexander, Paul’s mother, in his autobiography.
“There 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.”
Paul spent the next seven decades of his life in the iron lung. In March 2023, he achieved recognition as the longest surviving iron lung patient worldwide, as documented by Guinness World Records.
Despite his physical challenges, Paul pursued ambitious goals. He mastered breathing techniques that allowed him occasional respite from the iron lung.
He graduated from college, obtained a law degree, and practiced as a courtroom attorney for three decades.
Additionally, he self-published his autobiography, titled “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung,” which chronicles his achievement of learning to breathe independently for at least three minutes—a milestone he celebrated with the gift of a dog, according to the book.
Paul shared in 2022 that he was working on a second book. Despite his physical limitations, he demonstrated his writing process, using a pen attached to a plastic stick held in his mouth to tap keys on a keyboard.
“I’ve got some big dreams. I’m not going to accept from anybody their limitations,” he asserted in the interview. “My life is incredible.”
In January, he launched a TikTok account under the name “Polio Paul,” where he shared insights into his life and answered questions about living in an iron lung.
He amassed 300,000 followers and over 4.5 million likes before his passing.
Paul was also a vocal advocate for polio vaccination. In his inaugural TikTok video, he emphasized the importance of protecting millions of children against polio to prevent another epidemic.
