Paul Alexander contracted COVID-19 shortly before he died

Testimonies about the last months of Paul Alexander's life reveal shocking details about the "man with the iron lung."

Confined to an iron lung after contracting polio as a child, Paul Alexander managed to train himself to breathe on his own for part of the day, earned a law degree, wrote a book about his life, built a large following on social media and He inspired people all over the world with his positive attitude.

COVID-19 diagnosis

Alexander died Monday at the age of 78 in a Dallas hospital, said Daniel Spinks, a longtime friend. He said Alexander had recently been hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19, but that he did not yet know the cause of death.

Alexander contracted polio in 1952, when he was 6 years old. He became paralyzed from the neck down and began wearing an "iron lung," a cylinder that covered his body while the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of his lungs. He had millions of views on his TikTok account.

"He loved to laugh," Spinks said. "He was just one of the shining stars of this world." In one of his "Conversations with Paul" posts on TikTok, Alexander tells viewers that "being positive is a way of life for me" as his head rests on a pillow and the hum of the iron lung can be heard. background.

Spinks said Alexander's positivity had a profound effect on those around him. “Being around Paul was enlightening in so many ways,” Spinks said. He added that Alexander had learned to "swallow air into his lungs" to be out of the iron lung for part of the day. With a stick in his mouth, Alexander could type on a computer and use the telephone, Spinks said. "As he got older, he had more difficulty breathing out of the lung for periods of time, so he would just go back into the machine," Spinks said.

"He was always happy"

Gary Cox, who has been friends with Alexander since college, said his friend was always smiling. "He was very friendly," Cox said. "He was always happy." In 2020, Alexander wrote a book about his life, "Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung."

Cox said the title comes from a promise Alexander's nurse made him when he was a child: He would get a dog if he was able to breathe on his own for three minutes. "That took a good two years, three years before he could stay out for three minutes and then five minutes and then 10 minutes and finally get the strength to learn to stay out all day," Cox said.

Two titles and many friends

And indeed, Alexander got that puppy. Alexander, who earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1978 from the University of Texas and a law degree from the same school in 1984, was a motivated man who had a strong faith in God, Spinks said. They became friends in 2000, when Cox accepted a job as a driver and helper. He would take Alexander to the courthouse and then to his court proceedings in his wheelchair.

At that point, he said, Alexander could spend four to six hours outside of the artificial lung. Spinks only worked for Alexander for about a year, although they remained friends, and Spinks said he was among the friends who helped maintain and repair the iron lungs Alexander used.