An American man known as “the man in the iron lung”, Paul Alexander, passed away on 11 March, aged 78. Alexander was diagnosed with polio in 1952 at just six years old. Paralysed from the neck down, he could not breathe on his own and survived by living in an iron long since. The iron lung, a mechanical respirator that controls the air pressure around the patient’s body, helped Alexander’s lungs expand. The Guinness World Records has declared Alexander as the longest-living iron lung patient in history, according to various media reports.
Photo: Paul Alexander
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