After contracting polio at the age of six, a man in the United States has spent more than seven decades inside a 600-pound iron lung. Paul Alexander has been paralyzed from the neck down by the disease since 1952, rendering him unable to breathe on his own. The New York Post reports that “Polio Paul” has refused to upgrade to a new machine. Guinness World Records (GWR) named the 77-year-old the longest iron lung patient ever in March. Alexander has endured numerous hurdles since his birth in 1946. He lived through the worst polio outbreak in US history, with nearly 58,000 cases, the majority of which were children. According to the Post, Alexander was severely impacted by the disease, necessitating the use of a machine.
Poliomyelitis, sometimes known as polio, is a debilitating and potentially fatal disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus transmits from person to person and has the potential to infect a person’s spinal cord, resulting in paralysis. In 1955, a polio vaccine was approved and widely distributed to youngsters throughout the United States. The country was pronounced polio-free in 1979, but it was too late for Mr Alexander by that time.. He had an emergency tracheotomy and was placed in an iron lung to aid his body’s fight against the deadly disease. Since then, he has relied on the neck-to-toe machine to survive.
He said he had grown accustomed to his “old iron horse” by the time newer equipment was introduced
According to an earlier account in The Guardian, the equipment prevents him from moving, coughing, or wheezing. His field of vision is likewise restricted.
Talking about his other children who underwent the same surgery, he said, “As far as you can see, rows and rows of iron lungs. Full of children.”
Alexander said he couldn’t make any friends because “every time I’d make a friend, they’d die”.
He recalls physicians telling him that “he’s going to die” and that “he shouldn’t be alive.” It infuriated him. It inspired him to live. He told The Guardian that he had grown accustomed to his “old iron horse” by the time newer equipment was introduced.
It incorporates “frog breathing,” which involves using the throat muscles to press air past the vocal cords, allowing the patient to take oxygen one mouthful at a time, pushing it down the throat and into the lungs. Alexander graduated from law school after finishing high school and practiced law for several years. He attributes his success to his never-say-die attitude.