- [Interviewer] Paul,
are you ready for the interview? - I'm ready when you are. - [Interviewer] What would
you like to say to the world? - When I was six years old , back in the ancient times. - [Interviewer] What year was it? - I'm sorry? - [Interviewer] What year was it? - 1952 I was six years old and playing in my backyard like every other six year old and I didn't feel good. So I went in, told my mom, "Mom. I don't feel good" . And like every other parent in that day and time she panicked. - [Interviewer] It okay
if I sit beside you? Pull up a chair? - You can! Please, do whatever. Make yourself at home. - What was the environment around polio like back in the 1950s? Was everybody worried all the time. - Fear. Everybody was so scared of polio. It's a horrible disease. It well, when it attacks, they leave You dead... and crippled for life. Now, every parent was fearful. You'd go to a picnic. Everybody be saying, "Don't eat that food! You might catch polio!" Mom turned and looked at me and said, "Oh my God. Not my little boy." She knew. she knew immediately. I didn't know what Mom's problem was when she said, "Oh my God, not my child." - "What? Not your child? What?" I learned though. Real fast Within a week I had lost all of my movement, period. Couldn't even swallow. And I would stop breathing... Enough to scare them to take me.... to the hospital where.... they pronounced me dead. That happened quite a few times over the rest of my lifetime I thought I was in hell. Because it was horrible, I mean, It really was. - It was horrible and it was scary and I thought I'd died and gone to hell. - What was horrible about it? - Well, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. If a fly crawled up my
leg, I couldn't stop it. I couldn't scratch it. I couldn't kill it. I couldn't I couldn't tell 'them I
needed to go to the bathroom. So I lived in it. - [Interviewer] When you were
in the hospital for two years were you around other kids who had polio? - I was put, I was put in a big, A big room, big room. And there was lots of them. Lots of iron lungs. Lots of iron lungs! Not just a few, but there were like a lot. And most of them couldn't talk. I could couldn't talk. So the one next to me, we'd smile at each other and you know, try to communicate some kind of way cause you never, you never talked and then the next day they'd come and take them out, put another
on in, and I wondered why. "Why did you take him? I was making friends, why did you?" I found out soon enough. They died all over the place. The whole room eventually died. - I just watched them go out. It was so confusing to me because I couldn't figure out why they would die. I said to myself, "Why
don't they stay alive?" Why do I stay alive and they all die? That's the way I lived for 18 months. I should have died. The other kids did, they did all the time. They died. They took
'them out like an old... Broken down piece of furniture They threw it away and... How come I didn't? How come I didn't? I said, "God how come I didn't die?" "Why didn't I die?" "Come on what is the deal?
Why didn't you let me die?" He never answered me. I just kept living. Mom and Dad... Came to visit me every night... over 18 months of being locked in a hospital. After the 18 months I was considered to be serious enough to die. My parents would say to the doctors "Christmas is down the road. in a couple of days.
We're taking him home." The doctor said, "What?" And Mom and Dad said "How can we do that?" So they got a big truck, they put a generator in it, They put my iron lung in it with me in it! And off we went home. Something I dreamed about
when I got there every day Every day, "Mom, I want to come home." And they finally took
me home. I don't have any more family. They're all gone. Except I have one little
brother left but that's it. - [Interviewer] right behind you is a picture of your parents. - Yes. - [Interviewer] What do you think when you look at those pictures? - When I think of what? - [Interviewer] What do you think when you look at those pictures? - Oh, Chris, you know, I had a whole life lived with them and it was amazing. You know, if they talk about
God's love, that's just words. But when you actually receive it Boy it's something. My parents I don't believe anybody
could be like that. I cannot believe that people exist of their quality. They loved me so much.
They loved their kids. To sum this story up I was home. I became part of the family again. It was interesting but I did. And... Things changed. I learned to... do something I haven't done in years. And that was breathe. And talk. And express things I thought about for 2 years, 3 years. All these miracles kept happening. I learned to do many things I couldn't do before. The physical therapist came She come over to me and said,
I'm going to exercise you" I said, "You can't do that." She said, "Why?" I said,
"I can't come out". She said "At all?" "No, if you open it, I'll stop you." "So you can't open it!" And I was very emphatic
about, "You can't!" She didn't know what to do. So anyway, she came back again and again I didn't know if she didn't believe me or what but we became friends. Because one day I said, "What do you do for fun or whatever? She said, "I raise dogs." I said, "What do you do?! What?! And she said, "I raise boxer dogs." And I loved dogs. She showed me pictures and everything And she found the weakness And she said "How would you like a boxer puppy?" And I just lost it. And she said, "Okay, this is the deal..." "If you can breathe for 3 minutes" "out of the iron lung" "I'll give you a boxer puppy." And I was just like, "Oh boy." Cause I knew I couldn't breathe. So she put a watch up here and we started practicing. And I spent my lifetime Doing what everyone said, "Paul, you can't do that!" I did that. And I kept doing that and I can't do that. I considered it... a challenge. Anyway So it took a year before I actually got a breath doing that. I could go (gulping noise) That's the way I breathed, gulping at air. I kept breathing. I kept
breathing. I kept breathing. My breathing is... A miracle. It's another story. I may be the only person in the world that knows how to do it. It happened and I... Got my 3 minutes in... And I got my puppy. And from there I just kept (gulping noise) "Yeah nobody rush me! (gulping noise) "Let me see what I can
do." (gulping noise) "Wow, can you go 30 minutes?" I said, "I don't know but I'll try." I went 30 minutes eventually. Don't let it get to you.
Don't give up. Keep Fighting. It's the thing to do if
you want to live life. It's all there is. Then she said, "I'll tell you what." "when you reach an hour..." "I'll take you outside" And I loved to go outside. I Loved to be out in nature, okay. So I did it. After I got to an hour... It took another year or so and two hours. And you know, they said,
"You're gonna die." "You're gonna die. You're gonna die!" "Well why don't you die?" Well, I didn't die. God didn't want me to die. So I kept living and... It changed all the time. But it was fun. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the struggle. I enjoyed the challenges. I enjoyed the people. - Was there a point where you could no longer breathe outside of the iron lung? - Well, it's a conscious thing. I'm having to think about breathing, okay. I had to think about, "Paul
take another breath. Okay" (gulping noise) Like that. okay. And uh... it takes a lot of energy. I always determined to go on to college and when I got through
the application stage they laughed at me and said... "What are you talking about?" Well I showed them what
I was talking about. It took me 2 years to convince SMU... the school closest to my home
that I should be accepted. I was finally, and I stayed there two years and took most of the courses. And then I got real ambitious. I went to University of Texas at Austin. Moved into the dorm with my iron lung. I laugh because they laughed and said, "What is that?" And I said, "Oh, that's
just how I breathe." I went from one semester to another. I met some guys. We became really good friends. Okay. They said, "Paul, we're moving out." We can't take this place
anymore. The food's horrible". "We're gonna move out
to go to an apartment" And I said, "All right,
sounds good to me." They said, "Good enough to go with us?" And I went with them and they took care of
me for the next 2 years. - How do you spend your
time when you're here? What are some of your hobbies? - Hobbies? Uh... Hobbies? - Hobbies. - I don't... You know, I get up in the morning and I say, "What can I do today to accomplish something? I look at people and I wanna say, "Why are you here?" "What is the purpose?" "There's a purpose in your life." "What do you do to make things better? Because that's the way I think. And if I don't have the purpose that day, I'll create one. And then I proceed to spend 50 years in Austin where I got 3 degrees, including a law degree. And I came back to Fort Worth after finishing the bar exam and I started my own law practice. I put a sign up and I opened my door. I put the dad in the paper. Within 2 years, I think, I had that practice so busy.. that I was making a lot of money. Well, you know, when I had an office, I had my iron lung in
the office, one of them, And that's where I practiced. And they'd come in, they'd
make appointments, you know they'd come to my door and walk in. And they usually... take a moment and say, "Uh..." "May I ask you a question?" And I'd say, "Yeah, I got
a whole lot for you so why don't you ask me a question
to start out with?" And they'd say, "What is that?" Or they'd say, "Are you getting a suntan?" Or something I'd laugh at. And I'd sat, "No, I'm
sorry. It's an iron lung" "And you know what it
does is breathe for me" "because I had polio. You know polio?" No, I never heard of polio."
And I said, "That's good." - This is a pretty old
piece of technology. - It's back in the early twenties, tens. - So what do you do if something breaks? - That was a big problem because all the iron lungs are gone. There was most of them destroyed. I have 4, okay, which I hide because I don't want them
to take my iron lungs. Okay and we use the parts from some of them. But I got these 2 friends and they're pretty mechanically smart. - I've known Paul for 22 years we met - Really? Yeah. It was 2000 when I met you. - Wow. - Cause I got laid off
in the year 2000 when the dot bomb happened and I looked in the, the newspaper in the help wanted section and saw an ad for disabled person needs a driver. And met Paul and I would, I would come in the
mornings and pick him up. Then he would talk me
into pulling something out of the kitchen for him. So then I would put him in
my truck and we would drive around to the courthouse
and we would, we'd go to court. - [Interviewer] How many hours a day do you spend in iron lung? - All day. Because I used to be out all day. I used to get ready, I'd be gone to my office. And I'd go to my office and my secretary and guys would put me in the iron lung. At the office my desk was rolled up close to me. And my secretary stayed busy all day taking dictation. - What is it like to be dependent on such a big piece of
machinery to breathe? - Oh Chris... It's like it's part of me now. - It is part of me. - [Interviewer] It okay
if Daniel gives us a tour of your iron lung? - Yes. - [Interviewer] Take it away, Daniel. - All right, so... Here is where we have where
we're, it actually beats Paul and connects with him. And it, it's a fabric
that literally twists around the neck and
makes an airtight seal. - Yes it does. - I can tell you're a very optimistic guy. I love that about you. But was there ever a
point where you were like, "This isn't fair. I'm so angry
I've been dealt this hand." (laughs) - I never thought about it
being fair or not fair . I took it like... "Wow thank God picked me out" "to do this." - The fact that you survived? - Yeah! - These tilt the belt,
the bed side to side. - So they control how
he's laying in the bed for comfort. These, these here, this
is the main portal. So if we need to pull him out of it we pull these up and this
whole bed slides out. These are if we need to fix his blanket or adjust something, it's it's port holes that
have arm with neoprene that creates a seal that you
can put your arm in there and it doesn't, doesn't
lose so much air pressure. And then this is the pressure gauge. And what you'll notice
is it's negative pressure which is what we want. So it's, when it's at zero it's just like being in
out in the normal world, but when the, when the diaphragm moves what it does is it pulls
negative pressure in there so it creates a vacuum up to 40 psi. - We are human beings too. We feel and react and love and hate just like everybody. The problem is we got something broken that doesn't work like everybody. But that doesn't deny us the fact that we live on this planet and want to operate in a day to day environment. Just like you do. - [Daniel] This is the worm gear. And what it does is is it transfers the energy from the motor to a circular motion that then connects to this bar and that actual
connection back there is a, is a shifter of a Model T Ford Model T that was
that the shifter for it. And that's what they used to to actually make the connection there. Cause that was a spare part
that they could get ahold of cause they were in a desperate
need to get parts fast. - [Interviewer] Do you have
any movement of your body? - No, I have no movement. I can't do anything. So I need complete care. This is my baby. That's what I call her. I call her my baby because
she took care of me for over 20 to 30 years. And I took care of her. So she's my baby and I love her to death. She's off serving God right now but She never left my side. - [Interviewer] Who is this? - That's Mr. Moses . - Yeah. - [Interviewer] Moses,
what is your role... - He's my main caregiver. - I, Okay. I am a caregiver to Mr. Paul Alexander. I have been with him for
about 2, 3 years now. So, he has been a very nice man. - She was an amazing lady. She is an amazing lady. And she was a gift from God. I know that for sure. - I clean him up, I... get him comfortable in his position. I shave him. I make his meal. I do
all of his caregiving. - [Interviewer] Paul, right
above you, there's a mirror. - [Paul] What? - [Interviewer] Right above
you, there's a mirror. Explain to me the function of this mirror. - [Paul] Oh, I can see Daniel through it. I can see the front door through it. If somebody comes to that
front door and they knock I'll say, "Come in." And they they'll open
the door and I'll say, "Nevermind, go away." (laughs) No, I'm kidding but I can see what's behind me kind of. - [Interviewer] What did you think when you met Paul and saw the iron lung? - Oh, at first, really, I was, "Oh wow." "Can someone live in such a encapsulated thing like
this for a long time?" You know, so I was a
little bit scared at first. but I got used to him, yeah. - They'll say, "How did you do it?" "How did you live in that thing?" "How do you.." "How do you not go crazy?" And I try to answer them to give them a clue. Polio is very painful. It was very destructive. And if... if you don't fight like you've never fought before, it will win. It was not fun. But God's saw fit to... Say,"Paul, wait a minute.
You're not ready yet." "And we're not ready for you." "So get back to work."
I gotta say I appreciate how his baby voice seemed to mysteriously disappear. I LOVE what he does for the community but it’s my one cringe when he’s talking to adults. Good to know he can control it and I hope he does in the future.
This man went to college, went to law school, practice successfully as a lawyer, and lived the fullest life despite his dependence on the iron lung. He is so positive, so smart, and so strong. He never let this stop him. He saw it as his opportunity to live
It is also incredible that piece of equipment functions so well; it looks straight out of a medical museum and is clearly very well taken care of.
Replacement parts and service for these devices is getting increasingly difficult to find. And people who’ve been on negative pressure ventilation their whole lives rarely transition successfully to positive pressure ventilation like trache tubes.