Paulo Henrique Machado has lived almost his entire life in hospital. As a baby he suffered infantile paralysis brought on by polio, and he is still hooked up to an artificial respirator 24 hours a day. But despite this, he has trained as a computer animator and is now creating a television series about his life.
The Brazilian’s first memories are of exploring the hospital he has lived in for 45 years by wheelchair.
“I explored up and down the corridors, going into the rooms of other children that were here – that is how I discovered my ‘universe’,” he says.
“For me, playing football or with normal toys wasn’t an option, so it was more about using my imagination.”
Machado’s mother died when he was two days old, and as a baby he contracted polio – the result of one of the last big outbreaks of the disease in Brazil.
Read more: BBC
