Brazilian man creating cartoon based on his 45-year life in hospital

A Brazilian man who has lived in the hospital for 45 years is telling his story using a creative imagination that helps him think beyond the walls of the institution where he's spent most of his life.

The BBC told the story of Paulo Machado, a man who was paralyzed from childhood polio, and has been living in Sao Paulo's Clinicas Hospital on a respirator, making friends among other patients and learning computer animation from his hospital bed.

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Machado's mother died when he was only two days old, according to the BBC. He was hospitalized at the age of one with polio, along with many other children during one of the disease's last outbreaks in North and South America.

His best friend and hospital roommate, Eliana Zagui, is a published author and she paints using her mouth.

Machado has raised nearly $67,000 online for an animated television series he's producing with the help of a journalist and an animator. The series, entitled The adventures of Leca and her friends, stars physically disabled characters like himself.

The project description says the series chronicles Paulo and Eliana's lives, including their struggles and small triumphs, such as trips to the zoo and to the circus.

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The pair told the BBC they appreciate the small moments that others overlook.

"They don't stop to marvel like we do," Zagui said.