Paul Alexander: 'Man in the iron lung' dies at the age of 78 - BBC News

Paul Alexander worked as a lawyer and lived for decades in a metal cylinder which breathed for him.

20 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, GoFundMeBy Ido Vock and Cat SnowdonBBC NewsThe 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.

The disease left him unable to breathe independently, leading doctors to place him in the metal cylinder, where he would spend the rest of his life.

He would go on to earn a law degree - and practise law - as well as publish a memoir.

"Paul Alexander, 'The Man in the Iron Lung', passed away yesterday," a post on a fundraising website said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68555051

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