Paul Alexander, known as “The Man in the Iron Lung” or “Polio Paul,” passed away at the age of 78 on Tuesday (March 12), leaving behind a legacy of resilience and inspiration after surviving polio.
Born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas,Texas, USA, the polio survivor went on to spend the rest of his life encased in a machine known as an iron lung, also known as a “negative pressure ventilator,” a medical device used to help individuals with respiratory paralysis, a condition Paul suffered from.
Paul Alexander, the “Man in the Iron Lung” or “Polio Paul,” passed away at 78, leaving behind a legacy of resilience after surviving polio
Despite his condition, the resilient boy went on to go tocollegeand become a lawyer as well as a published author.
“Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered,” his friend Christopher Ulmer wrote in an update on theGoFundMepage he had set up to cover Paul’s medical expenses. A total of $143,461 was raised before Paul’s passing.
Image credits:Gizmodo
“I just got off the phone with Philip, Paul’s brother, who wants to communicate the following message,” Christopher wrote before unveiling the message: “I am so grateful to everybody who donated to my brother’sfundraiser.
“It allowed him to live his last few years stress-free. It will also pay for his funeral during this difficult time.
Christopher continued: “Paul, you will be missed but always remembered.
“Thanks for sharing your story with us.”
Paul spent 72 years of his life lying flat on his back, with his body encased in a metal cylinder from the neck down
At 21, he became the first person to graduate from a Dallas high school without physically attending a class.
For decades, Paul was a lawyer in Dallas and Fort Worth, representing clients in court in a three-piece suit and a modifiedwheelchairthat held his paralyzed body upright.
As per The Guardian, at a time when disabled people were seen less often in public – the Americans With Disabilities Act, which banned discrimination, wouldn’t be passed until 1990 – Paul was visible.
The trailblazing lawyer could leave his iron lung a few hours at a time after teaching himself to breathe and would use a plastic stick and a pen attached to it to tap on a keyboard to communicate with people,Sky Newsreported.
After recovering from polio, Paul was left paralyzed from the neck down; what his diaphragm could no longer do for him, the iron lung did
Image credits:Mitch Summers
“I knew if I was going to do anything with my life, it was going to have to be a mental thing. I wasn’t going to be a basketball player,” Paul told The Guardian in 2020.
According to theWorld Health Organization, of the three strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2, and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999, and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020.
As of 2022, endemic wild poliovirus type 1 remains in two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“You will be missed good soul Paul,” a reader commented
News
