Paul Alexander’s life was truly remarkable. Paralyzed by polio at just six years old, he spent most of his life inside an iron lung—a large, metal respirator invented in the 1920s to help patients breathe when their muscles could no longer do so on their own. Paul was one of the last people in the world still using this nearly obsolete machine. In 1952, during one of the worst polio outbreaks in the United States, Paul became seriously ill. His condition worsened rapidly; he could no longer swallow, hold anything, or breathe properly. After an emergency tracheotomy, he was placed in an iron lung, where he spent 18 months recovering. At that time, thousands of children suffered from polio, and many lost their lives. In fact, the year Paul fell ill, nearly 58,000 people contracted…
CONTINUE READING…
Leave a Reply