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Paul Alexander (polio survivor)

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Paul Alexander
Alexander in his iron lung in 1986
Born
Paul Richard Alexander

(1946-01-30)January 30, 1946
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
DiedMarch 11, 2024(2024-03-11) (aged 78)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
EducationSouthern Methodist University
University of Texas at Austin
OccupationLawyer
Known forLast man in the iron lung
Being able to breathe on his own without the iron lung for many hours

Paul Richard Alexander (January 30, 1946 – March 11, 2024) was an American paralytic polio survivor, lawyer and writer. The last man to live in an iron lung, he contracted polio in 1952 at the age of six. Alexander earned a bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was admitted to the bar in 1986. He self-published a memoir in 2020. He died in 2024.

Life

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Alexander was born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas[1] to Gus Nicholas Alexander, the child of Greek immigrants, and Doris Marie Emmett, of Lebanese descent.[2][3] He contracted polio at the age of six and was paralyzed for life, only able to move his head, neck, and mouth.[4][5][6]

During a major U.S. outbreak of polio in the early 1950s, hundreds of children around Dallas, Texas, including Alexander, were taken to Parkland Hospital. There, children were treated in a ward of iron lungs. He almost died in the hospital before a doctor noticed he was not breathing and rushed him into an iron lung.[7]

He spent eighteen months in the hospital. At discharge, his parents rented a portable generator and a truck to bring him and his iron lung home. Beginning in 1954, with help from the March of Dimes and a physical therapist named Mrs. Sullivan, Alexander taught himself glossopharyngeal breathing, which allowed him to leave the iron lung for gradually increasing periods of time.[8]

Alexander was one of the Dallas Independent School District's first home schooled students. He learned to memorize instead of taking notes. At the age of twenty-one, he graduated second in his class from W. W. Samuell High School in 1967, becoming the first person to graduate from a Dallas high school without physically attending a class.[2][8]

Alexander received a scholarship[4] to Southern Methodist University. He transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1978, then a Juris Doctor in 1984.[9] Before he was admitted to the bar in 1986, he was employed as an instructor of legal terminology to court stenographers at an Austin trade school. He represented clients in court, while out of the iron lung, in a three-piece suit and a modified wheelchair that held his body upright.[10][11]

Alexander has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the person who has spent the longest amount of time living in an iron lung.[12]

Alexander started a TikTok account in January 2024, on which he posted videos discussing his life. He had more than 330,000 followers at the time of his death.[2]

Alexander died in Dallas on March 11, 2024, at age 78.[1][13] Although he had been hospitalized for COVID-19 in February, the actual cause of death was unclear.[14][13][15] He was one of the last two people still using the technology, alongside Martha Lillard, who first entered an iron lung in 1953.[16]

Book

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Alexander self-published his memoir, Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung, in April 2020 with the assistance of friend and former nurse Norman D. Brown.[17][18] Alexander spent more than eight years writing the book, using a plastic stick and a pen to tap out on a keyboard or by dictating the words to his friend.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Paul Alexander Obituary - Dallas, TX". Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Jiménez, Jesus (March 13, 2024). "Lawyer, Author and TikTok Star Spent 72 Years in an Iron Lung". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  3. ^ Murphy, Brian (March 13, 2024). "Paul Alexander, who spent seven decades using iron lung, dies at 78". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Hoffman, Barry (December 1, 2014). "The Man in the Iron Lung". Consumer Health News. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  5. ^ Marchildon, Jackie (November 23, 2017). "Meet One of the Last Polio Survivors To Subscribe to Invincible Craft". Global Citizen. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Adams, Phillip (June 16, 2020). "Man in an iron lung". Australia: ABC Radio National. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  7. ^ Panicker, Jobin (February 27, 2018). "Polio survivors from Parkland reunite six decades late". WFAA. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c McRobbie, Linda Rodriguez (May 26, 2020). "The man in the iron lung". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on September 9, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  9. ^ "Mr. Paul R. Alexander". Martindale-Hubbell. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  10. ^ Ramirez, Marc (July 5, 2018). "Dallas lawyer has lived most of his life in an iron lung". Star Tribune. Dallas. Archived from the original on May 1, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  11. ^ Brown, Jennings (November 20, 2017). "The Last of the Iron Lungs". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  12. ^ "Longest iron lung patient". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Texas man who used an iron lung for decades after contracting polio as a child dies at 78". AP News. March 13, 2024. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  14. ^ "Paul Alexander, polio survivor in iron lung for over 70 years, dies at 78 after Covid diagnosis". NBC News. March 13, 2024. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  15. ^ Jiménez, Jesus (March 13, 2024). "Lawyer, Author and TikTok Star Spent 72 Years in an Iron Lung". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024. It was unclear what caused Mr. Alexander's death. He had been briefly hospitalized with the coronavirus in February, according to his TikTok account. After he returned home, Mr. Alexander struggled with eating and hydrating as he recovered from the virus, which attacks the lungs and can be especially dangerous to people who are older and have breathing problems.
  16. ^ Kelly, Erin (October 25, 2021). "Decades after polio, Martha is among the last to still rely on an iron lung to breathe". Radio Diaries. All Things Considered. NPR. Archived from the original on March 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  17. ^ Ramirez, Marc; Deletter, Emily (March 13, 2024). "Paul Alexander Spent Seven Decades in an Iron Lung. Polio Couldn't Take His Hope". Savannah Morning News. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  18. ^ Alexander, Paul R. (2020). Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung (1st ed.). Victoria, BC, Canada: FriesenPress. ISBN 978-1-5255-2531-5. OCLC 1154511337. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
    • Alexander, Paul R. (2023). Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung (2nd ed.). Victoria, BC, Canada: FriesenPress. ISBN 9781525525322. OCLC 1392285856.
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