★ Korean Rights Sold!
★ Film Adaptation in Hot Negotiation!
★ Nearly 1,000 Tearful Reader Reviews on Amazon!

★ 70 Years in an Iron Lung
This is the memoir of Paul R. Alexander—one of America's last polio survivors—who painstakingly typed every word over eight years. At over 70 years old, confined to a sealed metal cylinder, he clenched a plastic pen in his teeth, tilted his head, and tapped out his extraordinary life story, one keystroke at a time.

★ The iron lung was his fate, but he defied it with miracles.
His story now inspires millions across the globe.

Paul Alexander, born in 1946 and passing in 2024, self-published this memoir documenting his extraordinary life of resilience. Confined to an iron lung after surviving polio, he typed every word by clutching a pen in his teeth—a painstaking process that took years to complete.

The book’s title references a poignant moment: after mastering the grueling technique of "frog breathing" (glossopharyngeal breathing) to sustain himself without the iron lung for three minutes, he was rewarded with a puppy—a symbol of hard-won freedom.

Though imprisoned by the 600-pound metal cylinder, Paul learned to breathe independently for hours daily. This breakthrough allowed him to earn a law degree, travel, and become a vocal advocate for disability rights. Maintaining the vintage iron lung—a machine requiring manual operation during power outages—became its own battle, as spare parts grew scarce.

In his final years, Paul connected with a global audience through his TikTok account @ironlungman, amassing over 330,000 followers after its January 2024 launch. His videos, filled with wit and wisdom, inspired millions. Hospitalized with COVID-19 in February 2024, he passed away on March 11 in Dallas at age 78. The exact cause of death remains unconfirmed.

One of the last iron lung users worldwide, Paul transformed his physical constraints into a testament of human spirit. His achievements—as a lawyer, traveler, and storyteller—redefined what "living fully" means. More than a polio survivor, he became a beacon for disability advocacy and a living monument to medical history.

This memoir immortalizes his fight: against disease, against limitations, and for the right to be seen not as a medical curiosity, but as a man who refused to be defined by his machine.

Paul Alexander, an American lawyer and polio survivor, he is also one of the world's last users of an iron lung. In 1952, at the age of six, Alexander contracted polio, which caused lifelong paralysis, leaving him able to move only his head, neck, and mouth.
Lying in an iron lung, he completed middle school, entered university, became a lawyer, had an unfulfilled romance, and wrote this autobiography.