Longest Living Polio Survivor in Iron Lung Dead at 78

Paul Alexander, the man who survived seven decades in an iron lung, has died. A 1952 polio outbreak in Dallas, Texas, struck Alexander, who was only 6 years old at the time. The disease left him paralyzed from the neck down, and unable to breathe on his own. The solution to keep him alive was the iron lung. Alexander went on to become a lawyer and an author. In March, the Guinness World Records declared Alexander to be the longest-living iron lung patient in history.