2024-03-14 19:17:02
His story moved the whole world. Paul Alexander lived for 72 years in what is called an “iron lung”, an immense machine that allowed him to breathe, necessary for his survival. The American thus remained lying almost all his life on his back in a metal cylinder from which only his head protruded, placed on a pillow. He died at the age of 78 on March 11, 2024.
Paul Alexander contracted polio as a child
This device was created in the 1920s. Paul Alexander was installed there when he was still a little boy, after total paralysis due to contracting polio (ou polio).
This viral intestinal disease can indeed spread throughout the body and reach the spinal cord or brain and cause paralysis and, in some cases, death. In the event of respiratory compromise, the course of poliomyelitis can range from complete recovery of respiratory function to a total absence of recovery requiring lifelong dependence on respiratory assistance.
This is what happened to Paul Alexander: the paralysis affected his respiratory muscles, which made it impossible for him to breathe without assistance. The “iron lung” thus replaced his diaphragm, which could no longer perform its functions.
This medical device was first used in 1928 to save the life of an 8-year-old girl hospitalized at Boston Children’s Hospital (United States). It was invented by a team of researchers from Harvard University. The “iron lung” quickly gained popularity: by the mid-20th century, around 1,000 of these devices were in use in the United States and 700 in the United Kingdom.
Paul Alexander called this device his “old iron horse”. This machine, also called an iron lung, uses a ventilation system with pressure below atmospheric pressure. This allows the patient to use their lungs.
“Iron lung”: a now obsolete device in which Paul Alexander decided to continue living
Initially, this machine was designed to only be used for two weeks, in order to give the patient’s body the opportunity to recover. In an interview given to the British newspaper The Guardian in 2020, Paul Alexander explained that after spending three years in the “iron lung”, he could, from time to time, stay a few hours out of the device thanks to the “glossopharyngeal breathing” technique.
The American nicknamed this method “frog breathing”. It consists of taking very deep breaths, hence a resemblance to a croaking frog. This way of breathing allowed Paul Alexander to stay out of the cylinder for short periods, in a wheelchair. At the end of his life, however, he could no longer stay out of the machine for more than five minutes.
Advances in medicine made the “iron lung” obsolete by the 1960s. This machine has now been replaced by much more modern fans. But the American chose to continue using his “old horse” because he had gotten used to it.
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