Paulo Henrique Machado, Brazilian Polio Survivor, Lives 43 Years In Sao Paulo Hospital

Just before vaccines made polio a disease of the past in Brazil in the 1970s, Paulo Henrique Machado, an infant back then, contracted it and was brought to the polio ward in Sao Paulo's Clinicas Hospital. Since then, Machado has scarcely left. CNN writes that after the 43-year-old Brazilian was left paralyzed from the waist down by the disease, he joined eight other children in the polio ward, which has been his home ever since. "It was a wonderful time. I'll never forget it," he told the network in a recent interview from his hospital bed. "Even though most of our friends are no longer with us, I never stopped dreaming about them."

Machado's mother died just two days after he was born, and after he was moved to the polio ward, the rest of his family soon stopped paying him visits. His fellow patients in the ward soon became his surrogate family in their wake. "That's Pedro," he said, pointing to a black-and-white photograph of a boy in a pointy hat and clown makeup curled up in a wheelchair. "Back then, it was him and me, we were very close. He was my friend." He also recalled when his friend passed away. "It was December 26, the day after Christmas. Everything that I planned with my friend, life didn't have the same meaning. But it made me stronger."

Machado was one of only two people who have managed to survive the disease, along with his friend and roommate Eliana Zagui. "We're like brother and sister and we look after each other," Machado said of her. The two have beat considerable odds, as they were given little chance of surviving past the age of 10. Machado has been paralyzed from the waist down since he was a child. He was later able to come and go from the hospital as he pleased in an electric wheelchair, but when post-polio syndrome set in, making it impossible for him to straighten his legs enough to sit in a wheelchair, he had to give up his ventures outside the hospital. He also breathes with the help of a respirator. Zagui, who suffered paralysis while still a baby, has written a book about her life in the hospital and learned to paint by using a brush taped to a tongue depressor. "I've been here since I was 1 year and 9 months old," she told CNN. "I learned to write, to paint, to use a cell phone, a computer, things I like."

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