Robert Wadlow (1918-1940) was the tallest man in history with an astonishing record of 2.72 m. Wadlow suffered from a disease that caused his limbs to grow incessantly for all the years he lived.
This unprecedented growth was due to a hypertrophy of the pituitary gland, which led him to measure 1.69 m at five years, at 9 years 2.24 m and shortly before his death, doctors Charles and Cyril MacBryde measured him and reached a height 2.72 m unusual.
He even participated in a circus with men totally opposite to him in size, dwarfs who, along with Wadlow, were the permanent attraction on the tours of the Ringling Brothers Circus..
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Robert Wadlow was born in the city of Alton, in Illinois, United States, on February 22, 1918. His parents were Harold Franklin and Addie Wadlow. He had four siblings: Helen Ione, Eugene Harold, Betty Jean, and Harold Franklin II..
He was the oldest and the only one who struggled with overgrowth. Although Wadlow was born with normal measurements and weight, within a few months everything changed. What was most surprising after the age of 5 was that it grew on average 50 centimeters every five years.
Although Wadlow died very young, he became passionate about photography and law. At 14 he was the boy scout taller, measuring 2.24 cm. He graduated from Alton High School in 1936. Then he had some concerns and decided to enroll in Law at Shurtleff University..
Robert Wadlow rose to fame at an early age due to his great height. He was nicknamed "The Gentle Giant" for his kind ways of relating to others or "The Alton Giant" for his birthplace..
At the age of 5 he began to have problems with his height in elementary school. He was a very educated and intelligent child, but it was not easy for the teachers to find him a suitable place, a chair where he felt comfortable.
Wadlow, aged 9, was already a child who had to buy special clothes, so he became a regular customer of the tailor. At age 13 he joined the local group of boy scouts and he also had to carry everything to suit him: uniform, tent and sleeping bag.
When he started high school he already weighed 224 kilograms and was 2.54 m tall. He needed splints to walk and had very little sensation in his lower extremities. The diet was also different, as he had to consume five times more calories than a young man his age.
The size of Robert Wadlow not only brought him some problems of adaptation to the spaces but he also had to consume more food. For example, it was normal for him to consume only several slices of bread, several orange juices, eight eggs and five cups of coffee at breakfast..
The tallest man in history needed products to suit him; not only clothes, he also had to adapt the spaces to which he was used to frequenting. His parents tried to give him their best so that he would not feel uncomfortable, which is why he had a three meter long bed.
Likewise, the car had to be retrofitted by removing the passenger seat and Wadlow sat in the back, stretching his legs forward. The author, who normally carried six passengers, ended up serving only three. His special footwear ended up costing the family around $ 100..
One of his parents' dreams was to build him a house just for him, where his gigantism could feel comfortable, with 3 meter doors and a 3.4 meter high ceiling. Everything finally remained in some plans drawn on paper because it did not come true.
At the age of 18 Robert Wadlow was already touring with the Ringling Brothers Circus. One of the brothers had seen it and thought it would be a great idea to display it next to the smaller people who worked for the circus..
Wadlow was recognized worldwide in all corners of the United States thanks to this tour. It was common for him to walk through the streets and be followed by a crowd asking him questions such as whether he was cold in bed or how much food did he consume each day.
He also had other jobs with companies such as Shoe Company, being the image and, in exchange, he received the favorite footwear for free. In his various jobs he got to know up to 800 cities and traveled around 500 kilometers within the United States. It is also known that he was a member of a Masonic lodge and even became a Master..
Wadlow died at age 22 from an infection in his legs. In July 1940 Robert was in a parade in Michigan. Apparently one of his braces had put a lot of friction on his legs, but Wadlow, due to his lack of feeling in this part of his body, hadn't noticed..
The injury was considerable, although they could not transfer him to a hospital because there were no beds to suit him. He received medical attention at the hotel where he was staying, but he did not survive and died in his sleep..
The funeral was massively attended in his hometown of Alton. Thousands surrounded Wadlow's casket, 3.3 meters long. The shops closed that day in his honor and people saw how 18 men carried the coffin, which had to withstand a weight of 450 kilograms.
His body was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, in a larger-than-usual grave, as expected. In 1986 his city, Alton, erected a life-size statue in his honor on University Avenue. Another statue of him can be found in Ontario, Canada, in the Guinness Museum.
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