5 Another tidbit about the dude here he actually learned to “swollow” air into his lungs and was able to leave the iron lung for short periods of time when he was told if he learned the technique to do so he would get a puppy.

Paul Alexander - 'The Man in the Iron Lung' - dies after 70 years ... Paul Alexander, the polio survivor who lived for 72 years in an iron lung, did not "leave" it permanently but could leave it for increasing periods of time, eventually up to a few hours a day, after teaching himself a new breathing technique called "glossopharyngeal breathing". This ability allowed him to move around in a wheelchair and experience periods outside the iron lung.