Paul Alexander has lived in a steel tank that helps him breathe for more than 70 years after he was infected with a deadly virus as a child.
The American was only six years old when he contracted polio and was paralyzed from the neck down.
Because of this disease, he had difficulty breathing on his own, so doctors decided to confine him to an iron lung, where he had been since 1952.
For more than seven decades, this huge tank kept him alive and was once the only alternative for polio patients.
Poliomyelitis or polio is a fatal disease caused by a virus that is transmitted from person to person and can infect the spinal cord.
@ironlungman Episode 1 of Convos with Paul! We will respond to comments and questions about Paul’s life, his polio, and living in an iron lung! Please be positive 😊 #PaulAlexander #poliopaul #ironlung #conversationswithpaul
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patients with this disease are typically paralyzed because the virus attacks the muscles that facilitate breathing.
“Paralysis is the most serious symptom associated with polio because it can cause permanent disability and death.” Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who are paralyzed due to infection with the virus die,” the CDC reports.
So Paul Alexander had to live in this metal coffin that kept him alive.
However, this is not an obstacle to studying, because “Polio Paul”, as he is called, managed to finish high school and study law at a university.
At 77, Paul Alexander was recognized by the Guinness Records as the iron lung patient who lasted the longest.
How does this device work?
The steel tank’s job is to supply this man’s lungs, which is why it contains a huge fan that creates a vacuum inside.
In this way, a flow of oxygen is created into the patient’s lungs because his nervous and respiratory systems have been destroyed by the polio virus.
The tank is known as a negative pressure ventilator, which artificially creates breathing by applying pressure to the lungs to cause them to expand and contract.
This ventilator was only used for a few weeks, but some patients like Paul had to live with this device for decades.
Scientific advances have allowed these systems to be improved with much more modern and efficient ventilators, such as those used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Paul Alexander has lived connected from neck to toe to this ventilator for more than 70 years.
Paul refused to change his iron lung
At some point, doctors presented Paul with the option of changing his ventilator to make his life easier.
But this 77-year-old man refused to exchange his respirator for a more modern one because he was already used to living in this tank.
Paul says he doesn’t want to undergo surgery that would require cutting a new hole in his neck.
During all these years he learned to live in this pool and breathe outside this device for short periods of time.
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