A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 5
This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my…
This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one:
You can evolve into being a writer-producer.
Let’s face it, you can only write so much. But sitting on your side of the table, all those story meetings you’ve had to endure, you’ve probably developed a pretty good sense of what it takes to be a producer at least on a creative level.
Why not don that hat, too?
A quick way to jump start you producing career: Come up with story ideas.
Today’s story idea: “Lawyer, Author and TikTok Star Spent 72 Years in an Iron Lung.”
After he was paralyzed by polio at age 6, Paul Alexander was confined for much of his life to a yellow iron lung that kept him alive. He was not expected to survive after that diagnosis, and even when he beat those odds, his life was mostly constrained by a machine in which he could not move.
But the toll of living in an iron lung with polio did not stop Mr. Alexander from going to college, getting a law degree and practicing law for more than 30 years. As a boy, he taught himself to breathe for minutes and later hours at a time, but he had to use the machine every day of his life.
He died on Monday at 78, according to a statement by his brother, Philip Alexander, on social media.
He was one of the last few people in the United States living inside an iron lung, which works by rhythmically changing air pressure in the chamber to force air in and out of the lungs. And in the final weeks of his life, he drew a following on TikTok by sharing what it had been like to live so long with the help of an antiquated machine.
— —
When he was 8, Mr. Alexander learned to breathe on his own for up to three minutes by gulping in air “like a fish” and swallowing it into his lungs, he told The Dallas Morning News.
Mr. Alexander told the newspaper that he was motivated to learn to breathe by a caregiver who offered him a puppy if he tried to learn to breathe on his own. He got his puppy, and it later became the inspiration for the title of his book, “Three Minutes for a Dog.”
— —
By learning to breathe on his own, Mr. Alexander was able to live outside the iron lung for hours at a time, and students from his dorm would take him to class in wheelchair, according to the Alcalde. He then attended law school at the University of Texas and earned his law degree in 1984.
On TikTok, his handle was @ironlungman. Here’s the first video he recorded.
I have nothing to add other than say this is a biopic waiting to happen. An amazing story of persistence, courage, and the will to live a meaningful life.
Previous articles in this year’s series:
Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.
See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.