Wednesday, March 13, 2024 – Paul Alexander, the man who lived in an iron lung for more than 70 years, has died at the age of 78.
Alexander died on Monday, March 11, a fundraiser for his healthcare confirmed without providing further details.
Writing on Alexander's GoFundMe page, Christopher Ulmer, organiser and disability-rights activist, said on Tuesday, March 12: "Paul Alexander, ‘The Man in the Iron Lung’, passed away yesterday.
"After surviving polio as a child, he lived over 70 years inside of an iron lung. In this time Paul went to college, became a lawyer, and a published author.
"His story travelled wide and far, positively influencing people around the world.
“Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered.”
Alexander spent seven decades in the iron lung machine after contracting polio in 1952 at the age of six. The infection left him paralysed from the neck down. It also made him unable to breathe by himself so he had to rely on an iron lung machine to breathe for the rest of his life.
For over 70 years, he lived inside the tank that aided his breathing.
Despite his predicament, Alexander became a published author and lawyer.
At 21, he became the first person to graduate from a high school in Dallas without ever attending class in person.
He was accepted into Southern Methodist University in Dallas, after much difficulty with university administration and then got into law school at the University of Texas, Austin.
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