Paul Alexander, Texas man who lived most of his life in an iron lung, dies at 78

A Texas man who lived in an iron lung for most of his life after contracting polio as a young child has died.

According to his obituary, Paul Alexander lived in Dallas, Texas and died March 11. He was 78.

Alexander rose to prominence on social media, particularly on TikTok, where he was known as @ironlungman, amassing over 300,000 followers. He posted videos and answered questions from commenters asking about his life living in the iron lung.

In the most recent video posted to his account on Feb. 26, a man who identified himself only as Lincoln and said he runs Alexander's social media said that Alexander had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and was taken to the emergency room. He was able to use the hospital's iron lung and return home, but was still weak, confused and struggling to eat and hydrate.

Alexander had lived in an iron lung since contracting polio in 1952. In a video, Alexander said he went to University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1986, and according to a GoFundMe, he received a law degree, passed the bar exam and opened a law practice.

The GoFundMe has since been disabled for donations, but organizer Christopher Ulmer wrote that Alexander's inability to leave his iron lung left him "vulnerable to theft by those he trusted," and any money raised went to directly to Alexander to maintain his iron lung, find proper housing and provide health care.

"I have goals and dreams of doing some more things before I go visit some place, and I plan to do and accomplish those goals with my friends," Alexander said in his most popular video, which has over 56 million views. "I want to talk to the world about polio and the millions of children not protected against polio. They have to be, before there's another epidemic."