Sao Paulo ( CNN ) -- Paulo Henrique Machado shares pictures of some of his most cherished memories : the first time he saw the beach , a Formula One race and a party from his childhood when all his friends dressed as clowns . And yet he has lived the last 43 years -- almost his entire life -- in Brazil 's biggest hospital . As an infant , he contracted polio and was left paralyzed from the waist down . He breathes with the help of a respirator . It was the 1970s , before vaccines eradicated polio in Brazil , and Machado was sent to live in the polio ward with eight other children . `` It was a wonderful time . I 'll never forget it , '' he said during a recent interview from his hospital bed . `` Even though most of our friends are no longer with us , I never stopped dreaming about them . '' His mother died two days after he was born and the rest of Machado 's family soon stopped visiting . He points to a black and white picture of a boy in a pointy hat and clown makeup curled up in a wheelchair . `` That 's Pedro , '' he says . `` Back then , it was him and me , we were very close . He was my friend . '' Over the years many of the children died , including Pedro . `` It was December 26 , the day after Christmas , '' he says . `` Everything that I planned with my friend , life did n't have the same meaning . But it made me stronger . '' The children were given little chance of surviving past the age of 10 , but two people did : Machado and his lifelong friend and roommate Eliana Zagui . They still live together in a room tucked inside the Intensive Care Unit of Sao Paulo 's Clinicas Hospital . `` We 're like brother and sister and we look after each other , '' Machado says . Zagui suffered paralysis caused by polio when she was a baby . She has lived in the hospital for 38 years . `` I 've been here since I was 1 year and 9 months old , '' she tells us . `` I learned to write , to paint , to use a cell phone , a computer , things I like . '' They were both encouraged to push beyond their physical limitations . More polio cases confirmed in Syria , WHO says . Zagui recently wrote a book about her experience growing up in the hospital . She also discovered painting , patiently dabbing at the canvas with a brush taped to a tongue depressor . The wear and tear on her teeth meant she had to limit herself but she has n't stopped . Machado trained as a computer animator and wrote a screenplay for an animated series . With the help of crowd-funding and a group of animators , the series is coming to life . `` They 're inspirational , '' says Dr. Nuno Da Silva , a physician who has worked in the ICU since 1988 . He says that when they have patients who have been paralyzed in car accidents they take them to spend some time with Machado and Zagui . `` They 're examples to show it is n't the end of the world , '' he says . Still , they both wish they could visit , or even live , in the outside world . `` When I turned 10 , the hospital tried to convince my relatives to take me in , '' says Machado . `` But that 's not what happened . So we stayed here . '' Machado 's biggest passions are movies and videogames , opportunities to escape his own world . `` I like to live outside my reality , '' he says . `` To get out of reality I play games , because in the games I can go where I want without suffering any pain . '' There was a decade of freedom when Machado used an electric wheelchair to come and go with relative ease . But then post-polio syndrome set in , causing gradual weakening in muscles that were affected by the original infection . It became impossible for him to straighten his legs enough to sit in a wheelchair -- so travel is now only done lying down in hospital beds . But that has n't stopped him . On one of our visits he invites us to join him on an outing to a big videogame convention . Moving around is complicated -- he travels in an ambulance with medical technicians paid for by donations . Another complication : the respirator . Machado does n't need it 24 hours , but he feels more secure , having it just in case . But once inside the videogame convention , we enter Machado 's world . He laughs with excitement as a group of medical technicians and friends roll him around on a mobile hospital bed . Then he tries his hand at a few games . `` You do n't pay attention to anything else around you , '' he says . `` It 's great , you just want to discover more . '' For a day , at least , the tubes , the respirator , the hospital bed , they all fade into the background , and Machado becomes invincible .
Paulo Henrique Machado has lived most his 43 years in a São Paulo hospital bed . Machado contracted polio as an infant ; his mother died soon after his birth . He and his wife , Maria Santos , have become close to others with disabilities .