Before the invention of the polio vaccine, the iron lung supported patients whose lungs were weakened or paralyzed by polio.

Paul Alexander, according to family and Guinness World Records, was the longest living iron lung patient in history. In 1953 polio destroyed his respiratory function when he was 5 years old.

A Texas man who spent decades using an iron lung after contracting polio as a child has died at the age of 78.

(CNN) — Paul Alexander, who spent the vast majority of the past 70 years in an iron lung and defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author, died Monday afternoon at the age of 78 ...

Alexander contracted polio in 1952, when he was 6. He became paralyzed from the neck down and he began using an iron lung to breathe.

Alexander contracted polio in 1952, when he was 6. He became paralyzed from the neck down and he began using an iron lung to breathe.

Paul Alexander, who lived inside an iron lung for over 70 years and defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author, died Monday afternoon at the age of 78, according to his brother Philip ...

DALLAS (AP) — 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 ...