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	TALLEST MAN IN WORLD: GENTLE GIANT IN UKRAINE NEEDS URGENT SURGERY,Leonid Stadnyk, 33, believed to be the tallest living man, does not seek fame and calls his height his curse, writes Tom Parfitt in Podoliantsi,
	By Tom Parfitt in Podoliantsi, Ukraine, The Age, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Monday, May 3, 2004 PODOLIANTSI, Ukraine - Relatives remember Leonid Stadnyk as the smallest boy in his class. Then he began to shoot up - and 20 years later, he hasn't stopped growing. With a height of 254 centimetres, Mr Stadnyk, 33, is believed to be the tallest living man. The softly spoken giant, who lives in a remote village in Ukraine, is 18 centimetres taller than the Guinness world record holder. But while Radhouane Charbib from Tunisia, who is 236 centimetres, revels in his international celebrity, Mr Stadnyk makes a reluctant record-holder. "This is my punishment from God," he lamented. "What sin I have committed, I do not know. All my life I have dreamed of being just like everyone else. My height is my curse." Mr Stadnyk was unknown to the wider world until last month, when local media tracked him to a hamlet 180 kilometres west of Kiev, where he lives in poverty, as a virtual recluse, with his mother and sister. When I meet him, my hand is swallowed up by 29 centimetres of gigantic grip. The top of his head grazes the branches of tall trees; two dogs gambolling at his size 23 feet look like puppies; his mother barely comes up to his waist. He lives in a single-storey, four-room cottage that would be cosy even for an ordinary tall man. He sleeps on two double beds pushed together and must travel in a horse-drawn cart. Mr Stadnyk suffers from acromegalic gigantism, a condition caused by a tumour on his pituitary gland that makes it produce too much growth hormone. In the past two years, he has grown 30.4 centimetres. If his condition is not treated, he is likely to become the tallest man in recorded history. That title is held by Robert Pershing Wadlow, from Illinois. Mr Wadlow also had a tumour on his pituitary gland and was 271 centimetres when he died in 1940, aged 22. But passing Mr Wadlow's record is not a milestone that Mr Stadnyk craves. Though his height has been verified by Ukrainian officials, and Guinness World Records is seeking independent confirmation of his statistics, he would rather be left alone. Self-conscious about his appearance, he rarely leaves his village for fear of being ridiculed. This is my punishment from God. What sin I have committed, I do not know. My height is my curse."The worst thing is being isolated from social life," he says. "I get invited to parties but I don't want to go because it makes me uncomfortable. I don't like people staring and pointing fingers. I'm a black sheep." He has never had a girlfriend and will not marry because of his illness. "I don't really have any friends," he says. He relies on his mother Galina, 62. "If anything happens to my mother, I don't even know how to buy food." Until two years ago he worked as a veterinary surgeon on a local collective farm. But he became too heavy for his bicycle and his feet were frostbitten because he could not afford boots to fit his 43-centimetre feet. Mr Stadnyk's eyesight is also failing as the enlarged pituitary gland presses on the back of his eyes, and the pressure on his joints from his 199.5-kilogram frame means he is in constant pain. When he was 12, doctors removed part of the tumour, but a piece remained lodged in his brain. Doctors in Britain say his condition will deteriorate rapidly unless he has urgent surgery, but he cannot afford the cost of transportation and medical care. He has to labour in the fields on his family's scrap of land because he cannot survive on his disability allowance. Once, a local benefactor took him on a tour of the Carpathian Mountains. "People there were very happy to see me," he said. "They called me the 'Pride of Ukraine'. It made me feel better. "http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/02/1083436473376.html NOTE: To see six photographs of Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk click on the following link: http://www.artukraine.com/huminterest/stadnik.htm FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY

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