Paul Alexander, who lived in an iron lung for more than 70 years after Polio left him paralyzed, died after contracting Covid-19, according to reports.
‘Ultimately, it was not an iron lung defect, but a corona infection that led to his death. He died peacefully in the presence of his brother,’ German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.
The publication printed what may be the final interview with Alexander this week, with the extraordinary man telling its reporter earlier this year that he had ‘almost died a thousand times’ and suspected he did not have much time left.
The 78-year-old was admitted to hospital and tested positive for Covid-19 last month, his social media manager told his legion of fans in a TikTok video posted on February 27. He was discharged and went home, the man called Lincoln said, but was still ‘weak’.
‘I know there has been a lot of questions and comments about where have the videos been, is Paul Ok?’ he said, explaining that Alexander had been taken ill.
Paul Alexander, who lived in an iron lung for more than 70 years after Polio left him paralyzed, reportedly died after contracting Covid-19
Paul Alexander’s social media manager, Lincoln, said last month that he had contracted Covid-19
Paul Alexander pictured in a wheelchair in his youth. Alexander contracted polio aged six
‘Last week he was unfortunately rushed to the emergency room in the hospital, he tested positive for Covid, which is really, really dangerous for somebody with his condition,’ said Lincoln.
‘Fortunately they have an iron lung at the hospital just for him, and he was able to come home this weekend.
‘But unfortunately he’s still kind of weak, he’s still got some confusion going around, he’s still struggling to eat and hydrate,’ he added, explaining why he would not be appearing in any videos for ‘a little while longer’.
Under the handle @ironlungman, Alexander, who referred to himself as ‘Polio Paul’, shared videso chatting with his fans and answering questions in a series called ‘Conversations with Paul’.
He racked up millions of views and more than 330,000 followers on TikTok.
Tributes have since poured in from his followers, many of whom have left comments such as ‘RIP’ and calling him an ‘inspiration’ on his posts.
One wrote: ‘Forever rest easy Paul Alexander, you were the most inspirational person I have had the enjoyment of following forever fly high.’
Kai Kupferschmidt, a journalist who has interviewed Alexander on a number of occasions, wrote on X yesterday: ‘So sad to hear that Paul Alexander passed yesterday at age 78 from Covid-19.’
‘Paul contracted polio in 1952, when he was just six years old. He ended up in an iron lung and while he could live outside it for extended periods of time he never really left it.’
Writing on Alexander’s GoFundMe page, Christopher Ulmer, organiser and disability-rights activist, said on Tuesday: ‘Paul Alexander, “The Man in the Iron Lung”, passed away yesterday.
‘After surviving polio as a child, he lived over 70 years inside of an iron lung. In this time Paul went to college, became a lawyer, and a published author.
‘His story traveled wide and far, positively influencing people around the world.
Paul celebrates his 78th birthday on January 30, 2024 after more than 70 years in the iron lung
‘Paul was an incredible role model that will continue to be remembered.’
Over an extraordinary life, Alexander’s determination not to let his physical constraints get in the way saw him make a number of remarkable achievements.
At 21, he became the first person to graduate from a high school in Dallas without ever attending class in person.
He was accepted into Southern Methodist University in Dallas, after much difficulty with university administration and then got into law school at the University of Texas, Austin.
He pursued his dreams of becoming a trial lawyer, and represented clients in court in a three-piece suit and a modified wheelchair that held his paralyzed body upright.
Despite being bound to the ventilator, Alexander was able to paint and write a book
He also staged a sit-in for disability rights and published his own memoir, titled ‘Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung’.
The 155-page memoir was carefully crafted and took five years to complete; Paul wrote each word with a pen attached to a stick in his mouth.
Paul outlived both of his parents, his brother and even his original iron lung, which began leaking air in 2015, but was repaired by mechanic Brady Richards after a YouTube video of Paul pleading for help was uploaded.
The ventilator, a large yellow metal box, requires patients to lie down inside, with the device fastened tightly around their neck.
It works by creating a vacuum to mechanically draw in oxygen to the lungs for patients whose central nervous system and respiratory function were affected by polio.
While in hospital, doctors tried to get Paul to breathe on his own, turning off the machine and forcing him out, but it wouldn’t take long for him to turn blue and pass out.
Despite the availability of more modern ventilators, Paul decided to continue using the iron lung machine because he was used to it.
What is polio?
Poliomyelitis is an infectious disease that can cause paralysis or even death.
While efforts to produce vaccines effectively ended the epidemic in the western world by the latter half of the 20th century, polio remained one of the most deadly threats to children well into the 1950s.
Polio spreads from person to person through the ingestion of faecal matter from an infected person, or – less commonly – through coughs and sneezes.
Despite advances in sanitation and hygiene practices through the 19th century, the number of cases of polio in Europe and America soared through the early 1900s.
Stock photo of a 1950s ward full of iron lung patients amid the U.S. polio outbreak
In the first stage of contracting the disease, the infection stays in the digestive system and throat. Most babies are able to fight off the disease at this point without it becoming debilitating, developing immunity.
Children who develop the disease later on are often less well prepared to fight it without having developed resistance, which can see polio enter a second, more aggressive stage, affecting the central nervous system.
Awareness of how diseases spread in unsanitary conditions saw great steps forward in overcoming epidemics in cholera and typhoid, but the reduced exposure to the polio virus in youth meant many children caught the disease later in development by the 20th century, with horrifying consequences.
Sources: Science Museum, NHS