Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Joe Middleton looks at the life of Paul Alexander, who spent 70 years in an iron lung before passing away at 78
Paul Richard Alexander (January 30, 1946 – March 11, 2024) was an American paralytic polio survivor, lawyer and author. He contracted polio in 1952 at the age of six and spent the vast majority of his life in an iron lung for more than 70 years.
Paul Alexander, 78, spent more than 70 years confined to an iron lung after contracting polio as a child in 1952. Despite the challenges, Alexander still managed to make significant strides in ...
Confined to an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, Paul Alexander managed to train himself to breathe on his own for part of the day, earned a law degree, wrote a book about his life ...
Symptoms include muscle pain, further weakening of muscles and paralysis. [1] [2] Surviving paralytic polio can be a life-changing experience. Individuals may be permanently physically disabled to varying degrees. Others remember the fear and isolation. [3] Some continue to campaign for polio eradication and disability rights.
However, negative pressure ventilation is more similar to normal physiological breathing and may be preferable in rare conditions. As of 2024, after the death of Paul Alexander, only one patient in the U.S., Martha Lillard, is still using an iron lung. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shortage of modern ventilators, some enterprises ...
The polio survivor spent more than 70 years being kept alive by the medical device.
Symptoms subside with the treatment, and in Dr. Hayward's office, Kalanithi feels like himself again. After weeks of using the medication, CT scans show a reduced number of tumors in Kalanithi's lungs, and he becomes determined to return to the operating room. Back in the OR, he cannot finish his first surgery because of his health.