When I heard rumors of a new contender for world’s tallest man in northern Ghana, I set out to find out if it was true. The only problem? Right.
A local hospital in northern Ghana told 29-year-old Suleiman Abdul Samad he reached a height of 2.89m during a recent checkup.
That would have made him the tallest man alive, but there was a problem: the country clinic wasn’t sure of his height because they didn’t have the right measuring equipment.
The young man, who was diagnosed with gigantism a few years ago, was attending a monthly appointment to deal with the complications of living as a giant when he was told to stand on three feet.
“You slept bigger than a scale,” a shocked nurse told him.
Known by his nickname Awuche, which means “let’s go” in the Hausa language, everyone was horrified by the sight he put on.
He wasn’t surprised to hear that he was taller since he never stopped growing, but it caused panic among employees unprepared for such a scenario.
The nurse on duty called her colleague, who in turn asked someone else for help. It wasn’t long before a group of nurses and health professionals got together to solve the mystery of determining her size.
Someone suggested finding a stick and using it as an extension on top of the stick to measure its height – that’s how they got their estimate.
“still growing”
When I first encountered Osh a few months ago while traveling in northern Ghana, where his fame is spreading across the region’s grasslands, I didn’t have a tape measure to measure his length.
So to clear things up – and armed with a 16-foot tape measure – I returned to Gambaga village last week.
The plan was to have him lean against a wall, mark it with the head part, and then mark his height with a tape measure.
“The way they measure me, I can’t say it’s all right,” admitted O’Shea, happy with my plan to get an accurate measurement.
It turned out to be taller than most of the houses in its neighborhood, but after a thorough search we found a suitable building with a fairly high wall.
He took off his shoes, slip-ons specially made from car tires and nailed down by a local craftsman because he couldn’t find suitable shoes.
A neighbor climbed onto a wooden stool the same height as O’Shea so he could score the wall with a lump of coal.
After checking the line, we tensely stretched the tape measure from the line marked on the ground as Awuche watched in anticipation.
“Phew,” I said, “the tape measure reads 7 feet 4 inches.”
Smiling his unique smile, he replied: Wow, so what does that mean?
“Well, the tallest man in the world is 8 feet 2.8″ tall and barely a foot taller than you.”
I was referring to Sultan Kösen, 40, who lives in Turkey and Holds the current Guinness World Record.
“I’m still so big. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be that size too,” Ochs said — not at all fazed by the discrepancy with the number the hospital had given him.
“Every three out of four months I’m growing… If you haven’t seen me in three or four months and you’ve seen me, you’ll find that I’ve grown,” he explains.
language extension
This increase in height was evident when she was 22 years old and living in the capital Accra.
Osh moved there to try his luck in the town where one of his brothers lives after graduating from high school.
He worked in a butcher shop, saved up to take lessons in a driving school.
But he woke up confused one morning: “I realized my tongue had gotten so big in my mouth that I couldn’t breathe.” [properly]Said.
She visited a local pharmacy to get medication, but after days she noticed that every other part of her body started increasing in size.
When family and friends from his village visit the city, they all notice his growth spurt, and it is at this point that he realizes he is slowly growing into a giant.
She started to outgrow everyone and sought medical help as the growth brought other complications.
He had an abnormally curved spine, which is a major symptom of his condition, Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects connective tissues in the body.
It results in unusually long limbs.
The most serious complications are heart defects.
Doctors say he needs brain surgery to stop the growth.
But public health insurance in Ghana cannot deal with this and only offers basic care.
He still has to raise about $50 for each hospital visit.
His health problems finally forced him to return to his village six years ago and give up on his dream of becoming a pilot.
“I was thinking of going to driving school, but even if I put the seat back I can’t hold the steering wheel… I can’t straighten my legs because my knee would hit the steering wheel.”
He now lives with his brother and is recovering by starting a small business selling cell phone credit.
Its size also limited its social life.
“I used to play football like any other youngster, I was athletic, but now I can’t even run short distances,” he explained.
local celebrities
But Oshii hasn’t let his problems get him down. He’s full of energy as he paces his tall, lean build through the dirt roads of the village—smiling, as people call him.
He’s a bit of a local celebrity.
A group of elderly people sit down next to a shed and exchange pleasantries, children say hello and some women come out to hug him and joke with him.
Some people want to take selfies with him — even strangers come up and ask if he’s the giant they’ve seen on social media.
“Usually I’m like, ‘Yeah, come closer — we’ll stand up and take some good pictures,'” says O’Shea.
He is deeply grateful to his family for their emotional support and says he knows of no other relatives, including his three brothers, who are showing signs of his illness.
“None of them are great, I’m just the greatest.”
She would like to get married and have kids someday, but wants to focus on getting her health in order first.
Her first priority is to raise money for plastic surgery to treat a serious skin condition on her leg, ankle and foot caused by an overgrown limb.
But looking at his bound toes, Och refuses to let his situation put him off.
“This is the way God chose it for me, I’m fine. I have no problem with how God created me.
