Paul Alexander, known as the 'man in the iron lung' since polio diagnosis, dies at 78
The last man to live in an iron lung died in Dallas on Monday.
Paul Alexander, 78, spent more than 70 years confined to an iron lung after contracting polio as a child in 1952. Despite the challenges, Alexander still managed to make significant strides in life while inside the iron lung.
He attended the University of Texas for both his bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor and was admitted to the bar in 1986. He also self-published a book, Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung, in April 2020.
More recently, he gained a mass following on social media, where he shared stories about his life inside an iron lung and used his platform to emphasize the importance of vaccines. He was most known on TikTok, garnering more than 300,000 followers as @ironlungman.
"I have goals and dreams of doing some more things before I go visit some place, and I plan to do and accomplish those goals with my friends," Alexander said in his most popular video, which has over 56 million views. "I want to talk to the world about polio and the millions of children not protected against polio. They have to be, before there's another epidemic."
In his latest video, uploaded to his account on Feb. 26, the man who claimed to be responsible for managing Alexander's social media informed viewers that Alexander had been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. According to USA TODAY, he was able to use the hospital's iron lung and return home but struggled to eat and hydrate.
What is an iron lung?
An iron lung is a negative pressure ventilator that encloses most of the person's body — leaving only the head out of the mechanical respirator — and adjusts the air pressure within the enclosed space to facilitate breathing, according to a YouTube video on OPENPediatrics.
Does anyone else live in an iron lung?
Only one other American, Martha Lillard, is known to still rely on an iron lung, according to NPR.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Paul Alexander, known as the 'man in the iron lung', dies at 78
