Giant battles poverty, loneliness

PODOLYANTSI, Ukraine – All Leonid Stadnyk wants is a quiet, simple and inconspicuous life.

But the 33-year old Ukrainian is just too tall for that. At a height of 2.53 metres (eight feet four inches), Stadnyk may be the world’s tallest man and he keeps on growing.Measurements by the Ukrainian branch of the Guinness Book of World Records show he is already taller than Tunisia’s Radhouane Charbib who is listed by the book as the tallest living man.But Stadnyk says his height has brought him little joy.He remembered happier times when he was about the same size as his classmates in the village school, even a bit shorter.He said his arms are very strong but complains his legs are getting weaker under his weight of about 200 kilos (440 lbs).”For my job and with my height, I could move only by horse-cart.”Now his mother is the breadwinner in the family while Stadnyk stays at home and takes care of the house, land and cattle.The family house is crumbling.He walks cautiously with a bowed head to avoid the ceiling; he curls in a small armchair with his knees nearly reaching his chin.He sleeps on two beds.Stadnyk’s village is isolated.Houses cry out for a coat of paint and are circled by half-broken fences.”The garden is a place for me.Height doesn’t matter there.”- Nampa-ReutersAt a height of 2.53 metres (eight feet four inches), Stadnyk may be the world’s tallest man and he keeps on growing.Measurements by the Ukrainian branch of the Guinness Book of World Records show he is already taller than Tunisia’s Radhouane Charbib who is listed by the book as the tallest living man.But Stadnyk says his height has brought him little joy.He remembered happier times when he was about the same size as his classmates in the village school, even a bit shorter.He said his arms are very strong but complains his legs are getting weaker under his weight of about 200 kilos (440 lbs).”For my job and with my height, I could move only by horse-cart.”Now his mother is the breadwinner in the family while Stadnyk stays at home and takes care of the house, land and cattle.The family house is crumbling.He walks cautiously with a bowed head to avoid the ceiling; he curls in a small armchair with his knees nearly reaching his chin.He sleeps on two beds.Stadnyk’s village is isolated.Houses cry out for a coat of paint and are circled by half-broken fences.”The garden is a place for me.Height doesn’t matter there.”- Nampa-Reuters