Spending time in the hospital

Polio in the Brazil of the 1970s was a killer disease.  Children who contracted it usually died by the time they were 10.  Two have not yet died; they are in their 40s but have spent just about their entire life in a hospital.  They are hospital residents because of the danger of infection should they leave.  

Paulo Henrique Machado and Eliana Zagui are hooked up to an artificial respirator for most of the day. However, despite spending life in the hospital, Machado has trained as a computer animator and is now creating a television series about his life, while Zagui is a published author and also paints using her mouth.