Current Events > Paul Alexander (Man in the Iron Lung) has passed away

(+) Yeah! (+)

A man who lived in an iron lung for seven decades after contracting polio as a child has died.

Paul Alexander, of Dallas in Texas, US, was paralysed from the neck down after contracting the virus at the age of six in 1952.

According to a GoFundMe page previously set up to help pay for Mr Alexanders care, he died on Monday.

Fundraising organiser Christopher Ulmer wrote: Paul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Mr Alexander died after being rushed to hospital with Covid, according to reports.

At the age of six, he was taken to hospital after developing polio symptoms and woke up inside a mechanical lung. Mr Alexander, who was given the name the man with the iron lung, lived inside it for the rest of his life.
The iron lung acted as a diaphragm to help Alexander breathe after a doctor performed a tracheotomy on him to remove the congestion from his lungs following his polio infection.

Because of his polio he was unable to breathe for himself.

He was unable to move or talk inside the metal casing, and would often go unwashed because he was unable to communicate with the nurses looking after him.

His father placed a clear plastic stick, flat and about a foot long with a pen attached, which he uses to write and push buttons on devices such as mobile phones.

Alexander was one of many children placed inside iron lungs during an outbreak of polio in the US during the 1950s.

Later, he learned to breathe by himself and was able to spend short periods of time outside the iron lung and got into university, obtaining a law degree.

He also published his own memoir in April 2020.

I knew if I was going to do anything with my life, it was going to have to be a mental thing, he told The Guardian in 2020.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/paul-alexander-man-in-the-iron-lung-dies-after-living-in-tank-for-70-years/ar-BB1jOAQB

There's a couple of cases like this and the common theme is a hatred of portable ventilators.

Polio seems so distant. Only the oldest millennials or Gen Xers would have parents who went through it.

Whenever I see stories come up about pockets of communities of modern anti-vaxxers where diseases are coming back I always think to myself There is a group of people who have lost touch with the generation that had to fear polio.

What a terrible terrible disease that caused some life long suffering.

Anti-vaxers would rather see polio make a return than risk their kids having autism, which vaccines do not cause.

Starks posted...

There's a couple of cases like this and the common theme is a hatred of portable ventilators.

Polio seems so distant. Only the oldest millennials or Gen Xers would have parents who went through it.

It may come back depending on how many AntiVaxxers refuse to get Polio shots.

Starks posted...

Only the oldest millennials or Gen Xers would have parents who went through it.

My dad had the scar for the vaccine on his shoulder for the rest of his life.

Incredible he had the will to live as long as he did. RIP

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/10b42533.jpg

seriously though, RIP

Full_Pokedex posted...

It may come back depending on how many AntiVaxxers refuse to get Polio shots.

Yup, it's absolutely worth remembering that polio is not like Smallpox, it's still out there and what keeps it in check is vaccination.

He was the last living person in an Iron Lung, too. He was in one for 62 years.

I remember this guy, watched the vid Christopher Ulmer did on his SBSK YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5DOre3MFlw

RIP

KFHEWUI posted...

Later, he learned to breathe by himself and was able to spend short periods of time outside the iron lung and got into university, obtaining a law degree.

Fuckin' badass.

SgtBash posted...

I remember this guy, watched the vid Christopher Ulmer did on his SBSK YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5DOre3MFlw

The Gospel according to Paul.

What a Soul.

Rest in peace to an inspiration.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Got Polio before there was a vaccine, lived a relatively decent life in a society that valued medicine and vaccines, only to ultimately be killed because we now have anti-vaxx fuckers due to politics who would even at times intentionally spread the plague to prove "how much of a hoax it was".

Anti-vaxxers can't go fuck themselves hard enough, honestly.

Wonder why they stopped giving the polio vaccine... either that or it doesn't leave the scar anymore. Cause I sure as shit ain't got the scar.

Had a teacher that had it. One leg and foot was smaller than the other. She had to special order shoes off a teachers salary.

Wonder how big she woulda been otherwise cause she was 6 ft 2 as is.

Sufferedphoenix posted...

Wonder why they stopped giving the polio vaccine... either that or it doesn't leave the scar anymore. Cause I sure as shit ain't got the scar.

I recall the smallpox vaccine leaving a scar, don't recall the polio vaccine leaving one though?

Enclave posted...

I recall the smallpox vaccine leaving a scar, don't recall the polio vaccine leaving one though?

I could be misrembering

I think I wouldve opted for assisted suicide way before then.

LonelyStoner posted...

I think I wouldve opted for assisted suicide way before then.

Pretty sure that wouldn't have been legal back then.