Iron Lung man dies at 78

[XFool]

Paul Alexander: 'Man in the iron lung' dies at the age of 78

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68555051

The polio survivor known as "the man in the iron lung" has died at the age of 78.

"Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, leaving him paralysed from the neck down.

The disease left him unable to breathe independently, leading doctors to place him in the metal cylinder, where he would spend the rest of his life."

"Advances in medicine made iron lungs obsolete by the 1960s, replaced by ventilators. But Alexander kept living in the cylinder because, he said, he was used to it.

He was recognised by Guinness World Records as the person who lived the longest in an iron lung."

[monabri]

Wow! I put myself in his situation and can only wonder how he managed to keep his spirit up!

[Lootman]

Wow! I put myself in his situation and can only wonder how he managed to keep his spirit up!

A cocktail of drugs might have helped. Something like this:

Brompton Cocktail: morphine or heroin, cocaine, gin and chlorpromazine (Thorazine).

At the hospital I worked at in the mid-1970s we served it with orange juice. It was popular.

[clissold345]

Some more details of Paul Alexander's life:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68627630

[the0ni0nking]

Some more details of Paul Alexander's life:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68627630

I had read that this morning before seeing your post.

I found it quite inspiring and it is nice to read news such as this as opposed to the constant barrage of negative stories around UK politics, general UK struggles, Ukraine, Gaza etc etc.