He lived for 72 years inside an iron lung
Polio Paul, who lived for 72 years inside a medical support device called an iron lung, shared a brief moment from his life on TikTok and captured the attention of the entire world.
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One of the last people living inside an "iron lung" recently joined TikTok and is using the platform to share striking details about his own story.
Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952, when he was just 6 years old, during an epidemic that devastated his hometown of Dallas, Texas. Polio is a contagious disease caused by a virus that can spread from person to person, and in some cases, the pathogen can attack the central nervous system. In this scenario, it can destroy motor neurons and lead to paralysis.
Although this paralysis is usually temporary, there are cases where, with a 0.5 percent probability, the paralysis causes irreversible damage. Paul Alexander experienced this misfortune and was left paralyzed from the neck down.
Although his lungs were still functioning well, Alexander was unable to breathe due to the paralysis of his chest muscles and diaphragm, forcing him to live inside a device that applies negative pressure to the patient and pumps air into their lungs. And he did so for exactly 72 years.
During this time, Alexander developed a technique he called "frog breathing," which involves using his throat muscles to swallow mouthfuls of air and force it into his lungs. Thanks to this, he managed to temporarily leave the device for two or three minutes at a time.
Currently, only 2 people in the US use these iron lungs. As a result of vaccines and the fight against the disease, polio cases have decreased significantly, so these devices are no longer needed.
Nevertheless, the iron lung was not enough to stop Alexander. Alexander, who studied law at the University of Texas, passed the bar exam in 1984 and became a lawyer. He also spent five years writing an autobiography—Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung—which he wrote by pressing keys on a keyboard with a pen held in his mouth.
Alexander has now joined TikTok under the username @ironlungman. He shares his stories on his account, answers questions such as how the device works during a power outage in posts that have been viewed tens of millions of times, and inspires all his followers with his positive energy.