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ROBERT Wadlow was the tallest man in the world, standing at an unbelievable 8 feet 11 – before he shockingly died at the young age of 22.
Born in 1918, Robert was a normal sized baby and his parents were average height – but the gentle giant never stopped growing.
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GettyThe young man from Alton, Illinois was weighed at birth as 8.7 pounds – a normal, healthy weight for a newborn baby.
At just five years old, the mega-man stood at a whopping 5ft4 – around the average height of an adult woman in the US and UK.
By eight years old, Robert was over six feet tall – but he didn’t stop there.
At 13 years old he was measured up as being over an unbelievable seven feet tall.
Robert had four siblings who all took after their parents in being average height – but Robert defied the odds.
Initially, Robert’s family couldn’t work out where he had got his height from until he’d reached his teen years.
When he was 12, a doctor had diagnosed him with hyperplasia of the pituitary gland which meant he had an unusually high level of human growth hormones.
At the time it was too risky for experts to take out the gland so it meant that Robert continued to grow and grow.
Unsurprisingly the giant suffered from numerous health issues as a result of being so tall.
At 14, he slipped while playing in the street and consequently broke two bones in his foot, Guinness World Records reports.
From then on, Robert had to wear an ankle brace to support his towering height.
He also wore a shoe pad to support his arches but it caused an infection – leading to Robert being hospitalised for eight weeks.
A doctor found that Robert had little sensation in his feet “until a blister, followed by an ulcer, is formed.”
But Robert became a household name for his height where he became a spokesman for the International Shoe Company and even agreed to be a part of shows with the Ringing Bros Circus.
By 1940, Robert travelled to Manistee, Michigan where he appeared in the Independence Day parade – but tragedy struck.
At the end of the day, Robert started to develop a fever and got sent back to his hotel room by his dad to rest.
What he didn’t know was that his blister on his right ankle caused by his badly fitted brace was what caused him to feel unwell due to his lack of feeling in his feet.
Robert got progressively worse from this point as his family surrounded him while doctors made numerous attempts to save his life.
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GettyThey tried blood transfusions and even performed emergency surgery – with no luck.
Robert seemed to know that his death was imminent after he spoke his last words on the evening of July 14, saying he won’t make it to his grandparents’ golden anniversary party.
The gentle giant then slipped into unconsciousness before dying the next morning at the age of 22 due to his septic blister.
When he died, he measured up at 8 feet 11 and weighed roughly 31 stone.
Robert was put in a specially made steel coffin measuring a whopping 10 feet 9 inches long and weighed over an unbelievable 71 stone.
Unsurprisingly the coffin required a dozen pallbearers and eight assistants to help carry.
He was a huge name in the Illinois community of Alton, where he lived, so on his funeral businesses were closed and around 33,000 people came to view his body or attend the funeral.
As his beloved family were worried about grave robbers, Robert was put in a vault with layers of concrete on top.
It is believed that had Robert not tragically died, he would have kept growing.
By the time Robert died he was considered the tallest man that ever lived – and still holds this title.
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English (US)