It is with sorrow that we announce the death of Paul Alexander, also called “Polio Paul” or “the man in the iron lung.” Paul contracted polio in 1952 when he was only six years old, leaving him paralyzed except for limited movement in his head and neck. The iron lung machine kept him alive for seven decades. (check in the first comment

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Paul Alexander’s life was truly remarkable. Paralyzed by polio at just six years old, he spent most of his life inside an iron lung—a large, metal  respirator invented in the 1920s to help patients breathe when their muscles could no longer do so on their own. Paul was one of the last people in the world still using this nearly obsolete machine. In 1952, during one of the worst polio outbreaks in the United States, Paul became seriously ill. His condition worsened rapidly; he could no longer swallow, hold anything, or breathe properly. After an emergency tracheotomy, he was placed in an iron lung, where he spent 18 months recovering. At that time, thousands of children suffered from polio, and many lost their lives. In fact, the year Paul fell ill, nearly 58,000 people contracted…