Paul Alexander, a man who has survived polio by living in an iron lung for 70 years, has passed away.
“Polio Paul” is regarded as one of the last people in the United States to use the iron lung and earned a Guinness World Record for being the longest-surviving patient being kept alive by the machine.
News of Alexander’s passing came as Christopher Ulmer, an American disability rights advocate and founder of the non-profit Special Books by Special Kids, created a fundraising campaign on his behalf. Several news outlets have also reported his death but the reason behind it was unspecified.
“I just got off the phone with Philip, Paul’s brother, who wants to communicate the following message. ‘I am so grateful to everybody who donated to my brother’s fundraiser. It allowed him to live his last few years stress-free. It will also pay for his funeral during this difficult time. It is absolutely incredible to read all the comments and know that so many people were inspired by Paul. I am so grateful.'”
In 1952, Alexander contracted polio at the age of six and was paralyzed. He was rushed to the Parkland Hospital in Texas where a doctor noticed that he stopped breathing so they put him in an iron lung.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a life-threatening virus, mainly affecting children under five years of age, that infects a person’s spinal cord and causes paralysis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), polio cases have decreased by more than 99% since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988.
Despite not being able to move from the neck down, Alexander was able to finish his studies and even earn a Juris Doctor and publish a memoir titled Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung. Additionally, “Polio Paul” was said to have refused to use a more modern machine over his 600-pound iron lung.
Alexander has also been posting videos on TikTok about living life in the iron lung. An update from his social media manager on February 27 revealed that Alexander was rushed to the hospital and tested positive for COVID-19 “which is really dangerous obviously for someone with his condition.”
