Paul Alexander lived longer than anyone in an iron lung

Then it all disappeared: both that living, and the amazing world. At just six, he was confined almost completely. He could not tell how, because his limbs no longer moved. Through the water-trickles on his breathing tent he could dimly make out the shape of his mother, and hear her, so after a terrifying interval he knew he was not dead. But a tracheotomy to suction out his lungs had turned off his power to speak. In a whisper through his still-working mouth, he told her he was going to be all right.