Paul Alexander, who breathed with iron lungs, lived happily as long as he lived.
Paul Alexander was only six years old at that time. One day when his eyes opened, he was horrified.
He found himself inside a large metal tube. If any part of his body came out of this tube, it was only his head.
He was not able to even move his body to find out what was binding him. When he tried to scream for help, he realized that he was no longer able to make any noise.
Paul had survived a severe bout of polio but both his hands and both legs were not working. After an emergency operation called tracheostomy (in which a hole is made in the wind pipe through the throat for breathing), he was able to breathe, but for this he needed an iron lung machine. . This was the metal tube that bound his body.
Paul died recently at the age of 78. With this, Paul became the person to use these mechanical lungs for the longest period in history. He breathed from it continuously for seven decades.
But what was it that made him different even among his friends, that kept him alive?
Polio had taken the form of an epidemic in the 19th to 20th centuries, during this period this disease took the lives of hundreds of children and crippled them.
In 1952, Paul was admitted to a hospital in Texas. Many other children were also admitted there who were suffering from health problems like him.
According to the World Health Organization, one in 200 people infected with polio becomes paralyzed which does not recover later. Of these, within 5 to 10 percent, there are difficulties in the muscles related to breathing and the person dies.
Odd Future
After two years in the hospital, doctors began to doubt Paul’s future. In such a situation, his parents took a difficult decision. He brought Paul home with iron lungs so that he could take his last breath in peace.
But Paul did not say goodbye to the world, he became stronger day by day.
The mechanical lungs that Paul was using work on a negative pressure system. There is a motor installed in it which expels the air inside the tube. In such a situation, a vacuum is created inside the tube which forces the person’s lungs to expand with air.
Then the same process starts going in reverse in the tube, that is, air starts filling in it due to which the lungs of the person shrink and he exhales. In this way the person’s breathing continues. This machine requires energy from outside to keep working.
In case of power failure, there is a pump in the tube to fill and remove air by hand. At such times, Paul’s neighbors used to come to help him.
Paul’s father had created an alarm system which Paul could ring with his mouth in case of emergency.
With time, Paul learned to use the muscles in his throat with the help of which he was able to breathe in jerks. This is called frog breathing.
Paul’s younger brother Philip told the BBC that the promise of a puppy encouraged Paul to practice this complex frog breathing.
“Paul was afraid he would die,” says Philip, “but they told Paul that if he could do this for three minutes, he would get a puppy.” And Paul did what was impossible.
After this, Paul’s confidence started increasing and he gradually started spending more time outside the iron lungs. It gave him a chance to live his life. He would go in a wheelchair to meet his childhood friends in the neighborhood and when tired, would come back to his mechanical lungs.
Philip says, “For me he was like a normal brother. We used to fight, play together, party and go to concerts. We worked like normal brothers.”
Paul Alexander, who breathed with iron lungs, lived happily as long as he lived.