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World's tallest man keeps growing All Leonid Stadnyk wants is a simple, quiet and inconspicuous life. But the 33-year old Ukrainian is just too tall for that. At a height of eight feet four inches, Stadnyk may be the world's tallest man and he keeps on growing. Measurements by the Ukrainian branch of the Guinness Book of World Records show he is already taller than Tunisia's Radhouane Charbib, who is listed by the book as the tallest living man. The local and foreign press have descended on his village, making him a minor celebrity. He gets paid for some of the interviews and has been offered help in getting shoes and clothes that might fit him. But Stadnyk says his height has brought him little joy. "For my entire life I wanted to be shorter. I was bowing down, stooping," Stadnyk said, sitting in his house in the tiny village of Podolyantsi in central Ukraine. "I have always wanted to be in the shadows. I tried not to stand out, but now..." Stadnyk remembered happier times when he was about the same size as his classmates in the village school, even a bit shorter. But then at the age of 14 he started growing rapidly. At first nobody seemed to take much notice of the tall, awkward boy with a shy smile. But then his first problems began. "There were no shoes, no clothes for me in the shops. When I was undergoing medical checks, they could not measure my height, the scale ran out. Then I became self-conscious," he said, blaming a hormonal imbalance for his growth despite never having proper medical tests to diagnose his condition. Giant problems Ordering made-to-measure clothes is not easy in former Soviet Ukraine, where often a simple transaction can require dozens of documents. Money is scarce after he had to quit his job as a veterinarian due to poor health. He said his arms are very strong but complains his legs are getting weaker under his weight of about 440 lbs. "For my job, I had to travel seven kilometers [4 miles] every day. With my height I could move only by horse, on a cart." "It did not matter whether it was winter frost or summer heat, animals fell ill and I had to go. I did not have proper shoes and my feet froze. I had to stop working." Now his mother is the breadwinner in the family, while Stadnyk stays at home and takes care of the house, land and cattle. The family house is crumbling. He walks cautiously with a bowed head to avoid the ceiling. He curls in a small armchair with his knees nearly reaching his chin. He sleeps on two beds. Stadnyk gets a pension worth about $28 a month while needing at least $200 just to order a pair of shoes. They last about four months, he said. Mother and son rely mostly on home-grown fruit and vegetables. "Life is difficult. We are working, working very hard to earn our bread," he says. "With every year it is getting more difficult. Years pass by, my health gets weaker." And he says he is lonely. Stadnyk's village is isolated. Most youngsters have left to find work in bigger cities. Houses cry out for a coat of paint and are circled by half-broken fences. He dismisses local media frenzy around him, saying he has no plans to capitalize on his extreme size and move into show business. He wants to stay near his mother, his best and only friend at the moment, and work in the garden. "I do not smoke, do not drink. Every penny I can save I spend on buying seeds and seedlings. The garden is a place for me. Height doesn't matter there." |
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