Polio Survivor Who Lived in Iron Lung for 70 years Dies

Paul Alexander, an American who had polio and spent more than 70 years living in an iron lung, passed away at the age of 78.

Living in Texas in the summer of 1952, Alexander was six years old when he contracted the virus. It took until 1955 to license the first polio vaccine that proved effective.

Alexander was placed in an iron lung, which at the time was cutting-edge life support technology that breathed for the patient, as the infection rendered him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own.

In the ensuing seventy years, Alexander attended college, practiced law, and wrote a memoir called “Three Minutes for a Dog”.

On Tuesday, March 12, news of Alexander’s passing was shared via a GoFundMe campaign set up by Christopher Ulmer, an American disability rights activist who had the opportunity to meet and speak with Alexander in 2022.

“His story traveled wide and far, positively influencing people around the world,” Ulmer wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered.”

Polio that can lead to paralysis almost eradicated

Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious, viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of 5 and can sometimes invade the nervous system, leading to paralysis.

In the early half of the 20th century, polio outbreaks in Europe and the United States led to the introduction of iron lungs. At Boston Children’s Hospital, the first one was utilized in 1928 to save the life of an 8-year-old girl.

The devices are large, horizontal cylinders that act as artificial respirators, which work by mimicking the breathing process: air is first sucked out of the box by air pumps that are operated either manually or using a motor.

This creates a vacuum that causes the patient’s lungs to expand and draw air in. Then, the air is let back into the boxes, increasing the pressure inside and thus deflating the patient’s lungs to expel air.

The first polio vaccine rolled out in the 1950s, was developed by an American virologist named Jonas Salk. Following this, a global initiative sought to eradicate the disease — to drive the number of cases to zero, permanently — from 1988 onward.

Only a small number of people who were previously utilizing iron lungs, like Alexander, continue to do so as the number of polio cases has decreased.

These days, patients who require assistance breathing are provided access to sophisticated ventilators that do not require the patient to be immobilized in a tube.