Paul Alexander, polio survivor who lived in iron lung for 70 years, dies age 78 (2025)

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Paul Alexander, polio survivor who lived in iron lung for 70 years, dies age 78? ›

He was 78 years old. Paul Alexander, the man who lived inside an iron lung for over 70 years after contracting polio, died Monday after being hospitalized for Covid last month, his friends and family said. He was 78. Alexander's death was announced on a GoFundMe set up to help him with finances.

Paul Alexander, 78-year-old Dallas man who lived in an iron lung for most of his life, dies. DALLAS – Paul Alexander, a North Texas man who lived in an iron lung for most of his life, has died. According to his obituary, he died on March 11. He was 78.

Alexander died in Dallas on March 11, 2024, at age 78. Although he had been hospitalized for COVID-19 in February, the actual cause of death was unclear. He was one of the last two people still using the technology, alongside Martha Lillard, who first entered an iron lung in 1953.

Here's how he spent his life. Paul Alexander, a polio survivor who became known as "the man in the iron lung" died on Monday, aged 78.

Independent breathing also allowed him to leave the iron lung. At first, he could stay away for just a few minutes. As he became better at his siphon-style breathing, he was able to spend hours outside the chamber, which he had dubbed his “old iron horse.”

The polio survivor known as "the man in the iron lung" has died at the age of 78. Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, leaving him paralysed from the neck down.

Outlook. In most cases, post-polio syndrome life expectancy is good. PPS is rarely life-threatening, though symptoms can vary from mild to severe. If you have PPS, talk to your doctor about how to manage your condition.

Then directly afterwards then we had the bathing, and the iron lung would pull out. The attendants would have a tub that they would have sometimes in their hand but then would bring a stool over put the tub there, and they would go lower body first, always the chest, the arms, washcloth, not sponge.

Deceased (1946–2024)

Paul Alexander / Living or Deceased

Most patients only used the iron lung for a few weeks or months depending on the severity of the polio attack, but those left with their chest muscles permanently paralyzed by the disease faced a lifetime of confinement. In 1959, there were 1,200 people using iron lungs in the U.S., but by 2017, there were only three.

Is Martha Ann Lillard still alive? ›

Martha Ann Lillard (born June 8, 1948) is an American polio survivor who is still living in an iron lung. She became the only person after Paul Alexander's death still living in the iron lung. She contracted polio in 1953 when she was five years old. Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.

Over 12 million people, worldwide have been affected by polio as indicated by the CDC. There is no central system for reporting post-polio syndrome, but it is estimated that 300,000 individuals are survivors of polio in the United States and have mild to severe symptoms.

Most patients only used the iron lung for a few weeks or months depending on the severity of the polio attack, but those left with their chest muscles permanently paralyzed by the disease faced a lifetime of confinement. In 1959, there were 1,200 people using iron lungs in the U.S., but by 2017, there were only three.

As polio case numbers have dropped, iron lungs have disappeared from use, with only a handful of people who were already in the devices, like Alexander, still using them. Nowadays, patients who need help to breathe are instead given modern ventilators, which don't require a person to be immobilized in a tube.

Some patients spent just a short time in the iron lung, perhaps weeks or months until they were able to regain chest strength and breath independently again. But for patients whose chest muscles were permanently paralysed, the iron lung remained the key to survival.