At seventy-six years old, Paul Alexander is living proof of resilience, strength, and the will to survive. He is one of the very few people in the world who still uses a 1928 iron lung. Having spent the majority of his life inside this outdated yet life-sustaining machine, Paul has managed to live a life that many might never have imagined possible.

Despite his unique situation, Paul refuses to settle for anything less than an extraordinary life. In his own words, “I refuse to accept anyone’s limits on what I can do. I just won’t do that. I have the most amazing life.”

The Day Life Changed Forever

Paul’s story began like many others. Born in 1946, he was a happy, energetic boy growing up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. But everything changed when he was six years old. One day, he walked into his house and told his mother he wasn’t feeling well. At first, it seemed like a typical childhood illness. Unfortunately, it was far worse.

“I remember my mother saying, ‘Oh my God, not my son,’” Paul recalled.

Following the doctor’s instructions, he stayed in bed for four days. But his condition didn’t improve. Instead, it worsened dramatically. Less than a week after falling ill, Paul couldn’t breathe, swallow, or even hold anything in his hands. He was completely paralyzed.

When his parents rushed him to the hospital, they found it filled with other children suffering from similar symptoms. This was during the height of the polio epidemic, long before vaccines were widely available. By the time vaccines were introduced, polio had already paralyzed more than 15,000 people a year in the U.S. alone. Its symptoms ranged from muscle pain and stiffness to complete paralysis—and sometimes death.

A Second Chance at Life

At the hospital, Paul was examined by a doctor who pronounced him dead. Luckily, another doctor thought differently. Acting quickly, the second doctor performed an emergency tracheotomy and placed Paul inside an iron lung. Three days later, Paul woke up surrounded by rows of other children in similar machines.

“I had no idea what had happened,” Paul shared in a 2017 interview. “I thought I was dead. I kept wondering, is this what death is? Is this a coffin? Or have I gone somewhere terrible?”

Even more frightening was the fact that Paul couldn’t speak because of the tracheotomy. He couldn’t move a muscle. “I tried to move, but nothing worked. Not even a finger. It was the strangest feeling.”

Life Inside the Iron Lung

The iron lung, sometimes called a “Drinker respirator,” was invented in the late 1920s. It works by creating negative pressure to force air into and out of the lungs. While revolutionary at the time, it was also incredibly restrictive. Paul spent the next eighteen months in this metal cylinder, slowly recovering from the worst of his illness.

He wasn’t alone. The year 1952 was one of the worst on record for polio in the U.S., with over 58,000 reported cases. Tragically, more than 3,000 people died, many of them children.

Paul overheard doctors talking about him as they walked by his iron lung. “They said things like, ‘He shouldn’t still be alive,’ and ‘He’ll die today.’” But Paul was determined to prove them wrong—and he did.

Defying the Odds

In 1954, Paul was discharged from the hospital. His life had changed forever, but he wasn’t ready to give up. He worked tirelessly with a therapist named Mrs. Sullivan, who visited him twice a week. She promised him a puppy if he could master “frog breathing,” a method of breathing that uses the throat muscles to gulp air into the lungs.

After a year of hard work, Paul succeeded. He was able to spend short periods outside the iron lung and eventually more time each day. At 21 years old, he became the first person to graduate with honors from a Dallas high school without physically attending classes.

Paul faced countless rejections when applying for college. Many schools turned him down because he hadn’t been vaccinated and was considered too disabled. But Southern Methodist University finally accepted him—on two conditions: he had to get vaccinated, and he had to be under the care of a fraternity.

Later, Paul earned his law degree from the University of Texas in Austin. After passing the bar, he practiced law in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for three decades.

“And I wasn’t too bad at it either!” Paul said with a grin.

A Life Well-Lived

Even after retiring from law, Paul stayed busy. He wrote a memoir, typing each word painstakingly with a pen attached to a stick. Today, he’s working on his second book.

Paul’s iron lung is an antique, with no new models made in over fifty years. Yet, he continues to rely on it. In fact, seven years ago, he posted a YouTube video asking for help when his machine nearly broke down. Thanks to dedicated supporters and leftover parts found in barns, garages, and junk shops, Paul has kept his iron lung running.

Despite outliving his parents and older brother, Paul remains optimistic. He credits his life to his determination never to give up.

“I wanted to achieve my dreams,” he said. “I wanted to do the things they said I couldn’t.”

Polio has been nearly eradicated in the U.S. since 1979. But Paul’s story serves as a powerful reminder of the disease’s impact—and the strength of the human spirit.