Paul became a lawyer despite his health condition (Mirror)
Saturday, February 11, 2023 / 12:34
An American man in his seventh decade has been named the oldest paralyzed man who lived inside an iron lung machine.
In 1952, when Paul Alexander was six, he contracted polio, a serious viral infection that can affect the spinal cord, and doctors predicted he would not live long.
Paul, who lived in the US state of Texas, could not move anything in his body except his head, neck and mouth, and he was about to die, and he was placed inside a respirator.
Paul was surrounded by other children and a few adults with the same condition, and over the months following his illness, many other patients died, but Paul was the only one who survived inside the artificial lung for many years.
Paul, who is now 76 years old, entered the Guinness Book of Records after spending the longest period inside an artificial lung, which is about 3 meters long.
The artificial lung machine consists of an airtight chamber with a pump that can raise and lower the air pressure inside. The patient is placed in the chamber with his head and neck removed from it.
Raising and lowering the pressure inside the chamber causes the patient’s lungs to expand and contract, allowing them to continue breathing even if the chest muscles fail.
With the help of a physical therapist, Paul taught himself a special breathing method, using the muscles of his pharynx to force air into his lungs, which allowed him to leave the artificial lung machine for long periods of time, even to use it only while sleeping. 
Despite his health condition, Paul succeeded in realizing his dream of becoming a lawyer after graduating from high school and joining the University of Texas, where he obtained a law degree in 1978 and then obtained a doctorate in law in 1984, after which he began practicing law, where he represented his clients in courtrooms and ran his own law firm.
In 2020 Paul published his autobiography “My Life in an Iron Lung”, which he wrote with a pen attached to his mouth with a special stick, the newspaper reported. Mirror British.
