Locked head down inside an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, American Paul Alexander managed to train himself to breathe on his own during certain moments of the day, earned a law degree, wrote a book about his life, earned a large number of followers on social media and was a source of inspiration with his positive attitude. “He had a big heart, a big smile and he learned to win over people,” recalls his brother, Philip Alexander, to the BBC.
Paul Alexander was six years old when he woke up terrified and found himself inside a large metal tube, with only his head protruding from it. Paul had survived a serious attack of polio, but was left quadriplegic. After an emergency tracheostomy operation, he could not breathe without the machine, a cylinder that covered his body while the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of his lungs.
After two years hospitalized, the family decided to take him home to live his last days in peace. But the strength of the boy and his surroundings surprised everyone. When he died on March 11 at the age of 78, Paul had spent more than seven decades using his iron lung, longer than anyone in history.
Already as a child, Paul learned to “swallow air into his lungs” to be able to escape from the iron lung at times. His brother tells the British media corporation that it was the promise of a puppy that gave his older brother the incentive to be brave and try to spend time outside his iron lung to learn the complicated technique of glossopharyngeal breathing, the term doctor for frog breathing, which is the type of breathing that the machine facilitated.
“Of course he was afraid of suffocating to death, but they told him, ‘If you last three minutes, you’ll get the dog you want.’ And he did,” Philip explains. Over the years he also learned to type on a computer and use the telephone with a stick in his mouth. When he was off the machine, he was moved with the help of a wheelchair. That is why the role of his caregivers was so important, as they had to learn very delicate and complex tasks, his brother highlights. Many gave up the job after two or three days, but others stayed.
One of her primary caregivers and friend was Kathy Gaines, despite being blind due to diabetes. When she passed away after caring for him for decades, Paul was heartbroken. However, Philip highlights that his brother built a support network: “He had a lot of wonderful friends, some really beautiful people in his life.”
One of them was Gary Cox, they became friends in 2000, when he accepted a job as his driver and helper. At that point, Cox explained to the AP last week, Paul could spend four to six hours outside the iron lung, returning to the machine when he was in his office or at his house. He took him to and from the courthouse, because in 1984 he had graduated in law from the University of Texas, where six years earlier he obtained a degree in Economics. Clients were surprised to be greeted by a man in a steel box, explains his brother.
Philip also remembers the day when the iron lung broke down and, since they had stopped manufacturing them, they couldn’t find replacement parts. They moved heaven and earth until they found a man who kept some copies because he ran a mechanical durability company near Dallas, Paul’s residence. Brady Richards repaired the machine and came to his aid other times for future emergencies. “Paul was always a pleasure to be around; he had a very optimistic and positive attitude,” Richards recalls to the BBC.
