Paulo Henrique Machado has spent his whole life in hospital.
The 45-year-old Brazilian, whose mother died two days after giving birth to him, was struck down by infantile paralysis brought on by polio, leaving him incapable of fending for himself.
He needs constant help with his breathing from an artificial respirator, cannot walk unaided and has left his hospital ‘universe’ barely more than 50 times.
But despite his debilitating condition, Paulo has trained as a computer animator and is making a film about his life, based on a story by his best friend, confidante and roommate, Eliana Zagui, who also suffered polio as a child and has lived in the Sao Paulo’s Clinicas ever since.
‘Some people think we are like husband and wife, but we are more like brother and sister,’ Paolo told the BBC. ‘Every day, when I wake up I have the certainty that my strength is over there – Eliana. And it’s reciprocated. I trust her and she trusts me.’
The pair were among 11 children admitted to the hospital with polio - an all-but-wiped-out but highly-infectious viral disease that affects under fives - in the 1970s.
Culled: Dailymail
