Paul Alexander, 76, has lived an exceptional life. He has used an iron lung for most of his life and was among the last people in the world to still use the respirator in 1928.
When Paul was only six years old, he went inside his family’s house in a Dallas, Texas, suburb and informed his mother that he wasn’t feeling well.
Since his birth in 1946, Paul has always been a healthy, content, and active child, but all of a sudden, it was clear that something was wrong.
Paul recalled his mother saying, “Oh my God, not my son.”.
The boy was suffering from polio and was not getting better, so the man spent the next few days resting in bed as the doctor advised. He lost his ability to swallow, breathe, or hold anything in his hands less than a week after initially experiencing severe illness.
He joined many other children experiencing the same symptoms when his parents finally arrived at the hospital.
Before polio vaccines were available, the virus killed over 15,000 people. Polio can still spread even in those infected but do not exhibit any disease symptoms.
Some symptoms and signs of polio include fatigue, fever, stiffness, muscular discomfort, and vomiting. There is a slight chance that polio will cause death or paralysis.
Paul was given a second chance at life by a different doctor after being evaluated by one who pronounced him dead.
Paul was placed inside an iron lung following the second physician’s completion of the emergency tracheotomy.
When he did awaken three days later, he discovered that he was surrounded by several rows of children who had also been given iron lungs.
“I was clueless as to what had occurred. I imagined all kinds of things, including that I had passed away. The Texas native admitted as much to As It Happened host Carol Off in 2017. “I kept asking myself: Is this what death is? Is this a coffin? Or have I gone to some undesirable place?”.
It was even more terrifying because Paul couldn’t communicate because of his tracheotomy.
I made an effort to move, but I was unable to. Not one finger, even. To figure it out, I attempted to touch something, but I was never successful. Consequently, it was pretty odd. “.
The invention, made in the late 1920s, was the first to ventilate a human.
The apparatus creates a negative pressure in the chamber that draws air into the patient’s lungs and is hermetically sealed from the neck. It was referred to as the “Drinker respirator” in the beginning. ”.
If it results in overpressure, the patient exhales as air is forced out of the lungs.
After at least 18 months in the metal container, Paul overcame his initial illness and recovered. He wasn’t by himself, either. Looking at the data, the year Paul contracted the disease in 1952 was pretty depressing.
Over 58,000 people, primarily children, spread the virus in the United States in 1952. Sadly, 3,145 of them perished.
Iron lungs in endless rows, as far as the eye could see. Full of children,” he allegedly said.
Others may have lost the will to live, but Paul was only made more substantial.
He wanted to refute every doctor who passed by because he would hear them say things like, “He should not be alive” or “He’s going to die today.”.
He did that, too!