From Active Childhood to Sudden Illness Paul’s life changed forever at age six. Born in 1946, he was an energetic child growing up in a Dallas, Texas suburb. But one summer day in 1952, he came running home, telling his mother he felt unwell. Within days, his condition worsened. He couldn’t breathe, swallow, or even hold a spoon. His parents rushed him to the hospital, where he joined rows of other children suffering from polio—a highly contagious virus that, before vaccines, paralyzed over 15,000 Americans each year. Initially pronounced dead, Paul was given a second chance by a quick-thinking doctor who performed an emergency tracheotomy and placed him in an iron lung. He awoke days later, surrounded by children encased in the same whirring machines, unable to move or speak.
Life Inside the Iron Lung “Is this what death is? Is this a coffin?” Paul recalled asking himself as he adjusted to his new reality. His only means of survival was the iron lung, which created negative pressure to pull air into his lungs. Paul spent the next 18 months in that machine, recovering as best he could in a world that offered few answers and even less compassion. 1952 was the deadliest year for polio in the U.S.—nearly 60,000 cases were reported, with thousands of children dying. Paul wasn’t just lucky to survive; he was determined to thrive. He remembered overhearing nurses say, “He’s going to die today.” Each time, it only fueled his will to live.
Learning to Breathe Again After his release, Paul began working with a therapist named Mrs. Sullivan. She challenged him to learn “frog breathing”—a technique to temporarily breathe without the iron lung—by promising him a puppy if he could manage three minutes on his own. Within a year, he did it. Eventually, he could spend hours outside the machine.
Becoming a Trailblazer in Education and Law At 21, Paul became the first person to graduate from a Dallas high school without ever attending class in person. Despite being rejected by multiple colleges, he persisted. After two years of petitioning, Southern Methodist University accepted him—with the conditions that he get vaccinated and a fraternity be assigned to help him. He later earned his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin, passed the bar, and practiced law for over 30 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “And I was a pretty damn good one too!”
A Life of Purpose and Passion Even after retirement, Paul kept busy. He wrote a book—typed using a pen attached to a stick. He traveled, lived in a college dorm, and inspired everyone who met him. Although modern ventilators were available, Paul chose his iron lung. He felt safe in its rhythm, having relied on it since childhood. When parts became scarce, he turned to collectors and enthusiasts to help him maintain his machine. “I’ve found them in barns, garages, junk shops. Not much, but enough to scrounge parts,” he once explained.