The Man who Lived In An Iron Cylinder For 72 Years

 Before the invention of ventilators, the only available device to help patients with respiratory problems was an iron cylinder.

Paul Alexander, the Guinness World Record (GWR) holder of “the person to have stayed the longest in an iron cylinder”, passed on March 11,2024 at age 78, after living for seven decades in an iron cylinder.

Alexander was 6 years old when he contracted polio. At the time, the vaccines for Polio prevention were not yet developed in the western world.

The disease made Mr Alexander paralyzed from his neck down. His lungs were non functioning and he was unable to breath independently.

Doctors place him in the cylinder which exerts pressure and forces the lungs to expands and takes it air, thereafter contracts to release air. 

Polio left Alexander unable to eat or do anything on his own, yet he was not deterred. He would later complete high school, study law in the university, write a book and practice law.

Doctors had said he would live only a few years, just like people with his type of case. He defiled the odds and lived until he was 78 years old.

The story of Paul Alexander is very inspiring and we hope someone reading this will not lose their determination towards life irrespective of their circumstances.