Paul Alexander survived polio as a child and as a result was placed in an iron lung in 1952, in which he remained almost entirely confined for the rest of his life.
- Died: March 11, 2024 (Who else died on March 11?)
- Details of death: Died in Dallas at the age of 78.
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Paul Alexander’s legacy
Alexander was just six years old when he contracted polio, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He was one of hundreds of children afflicted during a 1950s outbreak in the Dallas area, and among some 60,000 reported cases nationally in 1952 and 1953, before the polio vaccine gained widespread adoption. As a result, he was placed on an iron lung.
Through glossopharyngeal breathing techniques, he was able to leave the device for short periods of time, though he still had to sleep in it each night. Alexander devoted himself to his studies, learning to memorize rather than handwrite notes and graduating second from W.W. Samuell High School. He went to Southern Methodist University, then earned a doctorate in law from the University of Texas at Austin. He was admitted to the bar in 1986 and worked for years as an attorney, using a special wheelchair that held his body upright in court.
Alexander wrote a memoir, “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung,” using a plastic stick to tap out words on a keyboard. He also launched a TikTok in 2024 to share his story with others. Alexander was one of the last two people still using an iron lung – the other was Martha Lillard, who was placed inside one in 1953 and still survives.
On learning to survive in an iron lung:
“I kept breathing. I kept breathing. I kept breathing. My breathing is a miracle.”—from a 2022 interview with Special Books by Kids
Tributes to Paul Alexander
Full obituary: NPR
