*The title for the tallest man in the world has changed hands. Sulemana Abdul Samed of Ghana now holds the title, thanks to his weird medical condition. His height has overtaken the Guinness World Record held by Sultan Kösen, the Turkey native who stood at 8 feet and 2.8 inches.
Samed, 29, has to visit a hospital every month because of his gigantism condition, according to BBC. On a recent visit, the nurses informed him that he was 9 feet and 6 inches tall. Gigantism is a condition occurring when an individual has excessive growth hormones. This causes the victim to grow too fast, at an alarming rate.
The condition can be treated if detected early, but the patients may still suffer from adverse effects, such as “mobility issues, sleep apnea, enlarged heart, etc.”
The reason Samed has had to maintain monthly hospital visits is so that the doctors can find ways to help him live comfortably with the condition. But his most recent visit shocked the nurses: they saw that he was now taller than the hospital scale!
Samed, also nicknamed Awuche, is virtually a giant. To figure out his latest height, the nurse handling him had to seek assistance from the other nurses. They then resorted to using a measuring stick and a pole to figure out how tall he has become. It was more than 9 feet. However, Samed wasn’t surprised because he long realized his growth is not normal for a man in his 20s.
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When he was 22 years old, his dream was to become a truck driver. To achieve this simple dream, he went to stay in Accra. He landed a job in a butchery to pay school expenses. It was when there that things started growing rather too fast. First, he noticed his tongue had grown to an unusual size within a short period. As a result, he couldn’t breathe well.
“I realized my tongue had expanded in my mouth to the extent that I could not [breathe properly],” Samed said to BBC. He explained that he initially thought he was suffering from an allergic reaction. He then bought antibiotics at a pharmacy.
But days later, he noted that his other body parts were also growing alarmingly. It went on for years. As a result, his spine has curved due to yet another condition known as Marfan syndrome, which is a disorder that affects an individual’s “cognitive tissues.”
Samed has accepted himself as he is and vowed to never let the condition define him or limit him from doing everyday activities. For him, this is how God created him and life must go on.
“That is how Allah chose it for me. I am OK. I don’t have a problem with the way God created me,” he said.
He is not bothered by the attention he gets from the community. He readily agrees to take photos with those who would want to share a photo with him.
“I usually will say, ‘Yes, come closer’—we stand and take nice pictures,” he said.
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