Last person living in an iron lung died at 78

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Paul Alexander was also called the “man in the iron lung”: in 1952, at the age of six, he contracted polio and was paralyzed from the neck down. Alexander’s lungs also failed, so doctors kept him alive with an iron lung – one of the first clinical devices to enable mechanical ventilation of a human. Alexander spent around 70 years in the machine.

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Now the man from the US state of Texas has died at the age of 78. A long-time friend, Daniel Spinks, confirmed this on Wednesday. Alexander was recently ill with Covid-19. He died on Monday in a hospital in Dallas. However, Spinks could not say whether the corona disease was also the cause of the death.

Despite his seemingly limited lifestyle, the 78-year-old led a full life, graduating from college and studying law, then practicing law and writing books – all while in the iron lung that replaced Alexander’s lung function. The patient’s body, except for the head, lies completely inside a hollow iron cylinder. The device seals the neck airtight and creates a negative pressure. This causes the ambient pressure to force air through the patient’s nose and mouth into the lungs. Correspondingly, exhalation occurs by building up excess pressure in the chamber.

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Paul Alexander became a Tiktok star

Paul Alexander spent almost his entire life in the iron lung – over the years he was able to leave the machine at least for a short time. The American eventually made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the person who survived the longest in such a machine.

His memoirs, which, according to the BBC, he worked on for eight years, he typed on a keyboard using a plastic stick or he dictated his memories. Alexander also started a Tiktok account called “Polio Paul” in which he talked about his life in an iron lung. At the time of his death, the account had over 300,000 followers.

Christoph Ulmer, a friend and organizer of a fundraising campaign on the Gofundme portalwhich raised over $140,000 for Alexander, wrote on the platform: “Paul was an incredible role model who will continue to be remembered.”

RND/ew/AP