— Paul Alexander, who spent the vast majority of the past 70 years in an iron lung and defied expectations by becoming a lawyer and author, died Monday afternoon at the age of 78, according to his brother Philip Alexander.
“Paul, you will be missed but always remembered. Thanks for sharing your story with us,” Christopher Ulmer, organizer of the GoFundMe fundraiser, said on the page. The disease left Paul paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. He was placed in an iron lung, a large metal cylinder that varies air pressure to stimulate breathing, according to his autobiography.
Paul’s ambitions were not limited by his condition. He learned breathing techniques that allowed him to leave the iron lung for a few hours at a time. He graduated college, earned a law degree and went on to practice as a courtroom attorney for 30 years.