Alexander has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the person who has spent the longest amount of time living in an iron lung.
Alexander started a TikTok account in January 2024, on which he posted videos discussing his life. He had more than 330,000 followers at the time of his death.
Alexander died in Dallas on March 11, 2024, at age 78. Although he had been hospitalized for COVID-19 in February, the actual cause of death was unclear. He was one of the last two people still using the technology, alongside Martha Lillard, who first entered an iron lung in 1953.

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The Final Two Polio Endemic Countries:

Pakistan No new Wild Polio cases reported this week. Two Wild Polio cases reported in 2024. Six Wild Polio Cases reported in 2023. Twenty Wild Polio cases reported in 2022. The most recent case had an onset of paralysis on 10/24/23. Twelve WPV1 Samples and no cVDPV2 Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Pakistan.

Afghanistan One new Wild Polio case reported this week. One Wild Polio case reported in 2024. Six Wild Polio Cases reported in 2023, Two Wild Polio Cases reported in 2022. The most recent case had an onset of paralysis on 9/4/23. No WPV1 Samples and no cVDPV2 Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Afghanistan.

Alexander was born on January 30, 1946, in Dallas to Gus Nicholas Alexander, the child of Greek immigrants, and Doris Marie Emmett, of Lebanese descent. He contracted polio at the age of six and was paralyzed for life, only able to move his head, neck, and mouth.

During a major U.S. outbreak of polio in the early 1950s, hundreds of children around Dallas, Texas, including Alexander, were taken to Parkland Hospital. There, children were treated in a ward of iron lungs. He almost died in the hospital before a doctor noticed he was not breathing and rushed him into an iron lung.

He spent eighteen months in the hospital. At discharge, his parents rented a portable generator and a truck to bring him and his iron lung home. Beginning in 1954, with help from the March of Dimes and a physical therapist named Mrs. Sullivan, Alexander taught himself glossopharyngeal breathing, which allowed him to leave the iron lung for gradually increasing periods of time.

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Thank you so much to our recent donators - Ralph, Corbett, Mary, Andy, Greg, Terry, Linda, and Kris!! We continue our fight to End Polio to honor Paul Alexander.

2020 The World Health Organization certifies the African region wild polio-free.

Rotary is an international community that brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally. The eradication of polio is one of our longest standing and most significant efforts. Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won't stop until we end the disease for good.

Paul Richard Alexander (January 30, 1946 – March 11, 2024) was an American paralytic polio survivor, lawyer and writer. The last man to live in an iron lung, he contracted polio in 1952 at the age of six. Alexander earned a bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was admitted to the bar in 1986. He self-published a memoir in 2020.

Rotary E-Club has created a memorial fund to honor our late Honorary Rotarian Member Paul Alexander, a man in the iron lung. Please join our mission to help Rotary reach every child with the polio vaccine.