Paul Alexander, who held a Guinness World Record for living the longest with the help of an iron lung, died on Monday in Dallas according to a statement by his brother Philip Alexander on social media. The polio survivor who died at the age of 78 was also known as “The man in the Iron lung”.
He was among the very few people left in the United States still using an iron lung, an old machine that helps breathe by gently shifting air pressure in the chamber to force air in and out of the lungs. In his last weeks, he gained attention on TikTok by sharing his experiences of living with this ancient device for so long.
Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was just 6 years old. The disease left him paralyzed from the neck down. He was not expected to survive after that diagnosis and even though he defied those expectations, his life was mainly limited by a machine that he couldn’t move from.
Despite the challenges of living in an iron lung due to polio, Mr. Alexander didn’t let it hold him back. He went to college, earned a law degree, and worked as a lawyer for over 30 years. Since childhood, he learned to breathe for minutes and then hours at a time, but he still relied on the machine every day.
The reason for Mr. Alexander’s death wasn’t clear. In February, he was briefly in the hospital with COVID-19, as per his TikTok account. When he came back home, he had difficulty eating and drinking as he recuperated from the virus, which affects the lungs and can be very risky for older individuals with breathing issues.
Paul Richard Alexander was born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas to Gus Nicholas Alexander and Doris Marie Emmett. According to his mother’s foreword in his book, after playing outside on a summer day in 1952, he returned home with a 102-degree fever, a headache, and a stiff neck.
“I had every reason to be terror-stricken, and I was,” she wrote. “Polio, the dreaded disease for every parent, was stalking through our city like a big black monster, crippling and killing wherever he went. Here was Paul with every symptom.”
Mr. Alexander spent several months in the hospital, where he was close to dying on several occasions.
As mentioned in his book “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung”, he became paralyzed swiftly, and doctors at Parkland Hospital in Dallas had to place him in an iron lung to help him breathe.
“One day I opened my eyes from a deep sleep and looked around for something, anything, familiar,” Mr. Alexander said in his book, which he wrote by putting a pen or pencil in his mouth. “Everywhere I looked was all very strange. Little did I know that each new day my life was unavoidably set on a path that would become unimaginably strange and more challenging.”
“Finally, one day the doctor called us in and told us Paul could not live much longer and if we wanted him at home with us when he died, we could take him,” his mother wrote.
His trip home with the iron lung made hospital workers anxious. It required a truck with a generator in the back to keep the machine running, as described by his mother.
Despite advancements in science and technology that resulted in portable ventilators for those with respiratory issues, Mr. Alexander’s chest muscles were too weak to operate any other device. As a result, he depended on the iron lung for most of his life, as reported by The Dallas Morning News in their 2018 profile of him.
While in the machine, Mr. Alexander relied on others for everyday tasks like eating and drinking. Throughout his life, he received assistance from his caregiver, Kathy Gaines, according to his book.
At the age of 8, Mr. Alexander learned to breathe independently for up to three minutes by taking in air quickly, similar to how a fish breathes. He shared this with The Dallas Morning News.
Mr. Alexander explained to the newspaper that he was encouraged to learn by a caregiver who promised him a puppy if he made an effort. He succeeded and received his puppy, which later inspired the title of his book, “Three Minutes for a Dog.”
In January, Mr. Alexander started his TikTok account and, with support from others, began making videos about his life. Some videos covered various aspects of his life, such as his experience practicing law while confined to the iron lung.
In some of his videos, he answered questions from his over 330,000 followers about everyday aspects of his life, like how he managed certain tasks, such as going to the bathroom. (He needed help from a caregiver who would unlock the iron lung, and then he’d use a urinal or bedpan.)
In another video, Mr. Alexander talked about the emotional and mental struggles of living in an iron lung.
“It’s lonely,” he said as the machine can be heard humming in the background. “Sometimes it’s desperate because I can’t touch someone, my hands don’t move, and no one touches me except in rare occasions, which I cherish.”
In the video, Mr. Alexander mentioned that he had received emails and letters from people dealing with anxiety and depression over the years, and he shared some advice with them.
“Life is such an extraordinary thing,” he said. “Just hold on. It’s going to get better.”
His brother, Philip Alexander, remembered him as a “welcoming, warm person”, with a “big smile” that instantly put people at ease.
He was just a normal brother to me. We fought, we played, we loved, we partied, we went to concerts together – he was just a normal brother, I never thought about it,” he told the BBC.
Philip expressed his admiration for how independent his brother was, despite facing an illness that prevented him from doing everyday activities like feeding himself.
“He was the master of his domain, helping people to help him,” Philip added
Paul’s health deteriorated in the past few weeks, and during his final days, the brothers spent time together, enjoying pints of ice cream.
According to Dignity Memorial, Mr. Alexander is survived by his brother, nephew Benjamin Alexander, niece Jennifer Dodson, and sister-in-law Rafaela Alexander. His funeral service is set for March 20 at the Grove Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park in Dallas.