“And I was a pretty damn good one too!”

Even after a 30-year long career in the courtroom, he continued to keep busy by writing a book, which he typed all by himself using a pen attached to a stick.

According to a Gizmodo, Paul is believed to be one of the last people who lived in the near-obsolete machine. He was confined to his old iron lung around the clock and spent much of his life in a can.

”I have travelled with it —  put it in a truck, took it with me. I’ve gone to college with it, lived in a dorm. That freaked everybody out,” he said.

Paul’s type of iron lung hasn’t been manufactured for half a century because – ventilators are now much more advanced and sophisticated.

But the polio survivor preferred his metal chamber, even though new technology was available for him.

But the Dallas attorney had to make a desperate YouTube announcement when the metal lung almost broke down seven years ago. Fortunately, there were still abandoned machines all over the country, so many spare parts are still out there. Paul has also had help from enthusiasts who love approaching old technology.

”A lot of people who had polio and they’re dead. What did they do with the iron lung? I’ve found them in barns. I found them in garages. I’ve found them in junk shops. Not much, but enough to scrounge [for] parts,” he says.

Paul once said he’s been able to live such a fulfilling life because he “never gave up.”

“I wanted to accomplish the things I was told I couldn’t accomplish,” he said, “and to achieve the dreams I dreamed.”

Polio has effectively been wiped out of the United States since 1979. However, vaccine-derived cases of polio crop up every now and then which are still a cause for concern.