According to Barcroft Media, doctors told his mother to stop feeding him when he was a child, as it was thought he had no chance of survival.
“Since I was a child, I've always liked to keep myself busy and work – I don't like to depend totally on other people,” the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.
De Oliveira does not see himself as being different, saying: "I am a normal person."
His story appears on Body Bizarre, which starts on 4 September at 9pm on TLC. This is footage from his own YouTube channel.