After Living 70 Years In An Iron Lung, Polio Survivor Dies of Covid

POLIO SURVIVOR PAUL ALEXANDER DIES FROM COVID-19 AFTER LIVING 70+ YEARS IN AN IRON LUNG

This is sad news, but it brings up inspiration and amazement as well. You may have heard of a man, Paul Alexander, who called himself “Polio Paul.” He called himself that because he was a Polio survivor, and continued to live over 70 years in an Iron Lung. He got Polio at the age of 6 in 1952. While not completely confined to the Iron Lung, he could live outside it for periods of time. But for the most part, he stayed in it. More than 70 years is staggering, and amazing. But after all that time, this amazing Polio survivor has passed away from Covid-19 at the age of 78.

POLIO SURVIVOR GOT A LAW DEGREE, PASSED THE BAR, WROTE HIS OWN AUTOBIGRAPHY

But this Polio survivor still lived an amazing life. He not only got a law degree but he practiced law! But I should specify what periods of time outside the Iron Lung really mean. Alexander could leave his living confines for 2-3 minutes, when he would gulp down mouthfuls of air using the muscles in his throat to force air into his lungs. He called it “frog breathing.” But despite that incredible reality, he got his law degree from Texas and passed the bar in 1984. But that’s not all, of course. He also wrote an autobiography over 5 years, typing with a pencil in his mouth.

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THIS INSPIRATIONAL POLIO SURVIVOR HAS A LOT TO TEACH US ALL ABOUT RESILIENCE, PERSISTENCE

Do you feel like an over complaining underachiever like I do? This polio survivor confined to an Iron Lung deserves some real inspirational attention from us all. But I can’t help thinking that while one pandemic didn’t manage to get him, another did, decades later. So have a look at these links for more. Here is a podcast of an interview with him (skip to the 8 min mark to get past the intro in German). Here is an article from IFLScience that has a lot of amazing details of all his accomplishments despite his life in an Iron Lung. And, lastly, have a look at his TikTok account. This polio survivor really was an amazing human being.