Rhythmism.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ic/6178659.stm



The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards.
Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.

Attempts to use instruments failed as the dolphins contracted their stomachs.

Guinness World Records list Mr Bao, 54, as the world's tallest living man at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in).

Recovering

Veterinarians turned to Mr Bao after attempts to extract the plastic shards at the aquarium in Fushun, Liaoning Province, had failed.

The mammals had lost their appetite and were suffering depression, aquarium officials said.

The heads of the dolphins were held back and towels wrapped around their teeth so Mr Bao could not be bitten.

He then extended his 1.06m-long arm into the mammals' stomachs.

Chen Lujun, manager of Royal Jidi Ocean World, said Mr Bao was successful and the dolphins were "in very good condition now".

Local doctor Zhu Xiaoling told the state media agency Xinhua: "Some very small plastic pieces are still left in the dolphins' stomachs.

"However the dolphins will be able to digest these and are expected to recover soon."

Mr Bao was confirmed as the world's tallest living man by Guinness World Records last year.

He overtook the previous holder, Radhouane Charbib of Tunisia, by just 2mm.

Guinness World Records say Mr Bao was of normal height until 16 but then put on a spurt that doctors were unable to explain, reaching his full height in seven years.

so now we got Yao and Bao.

just beat me to it! strange, but good. where's katielady to wax approvingly?

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/10...ll/10ming.html

ACtually Sun Ming Ming

Health Holds Back 7-Foot-9 Prospect
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Reprints Share
DiggFacebookNewsvinePermalink

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 10, 2006
Sun Ming Ming’s hands are enormous. He catches a basketball with one, as a baseball player might with a mitt. They are hands with the touch of a shooting guard, able to sink one 20-foot jumper after another.

Sun is no guard — at nearly 7 feet 9 inches, he would be the tallest player in N.B.A. history. But the pituitary tumor that led to his extraordinary size is threatening his life and keeping him away from a pro basketball career.

He recently underwent a second operation, though it could be years before Sun and his doctors find out if it was a success. Until then, he is doing what he can to prepare his body for the rigors of pro sports.

“When he first came here, he acted like a 60-year-old man,” said Rocky Manning, who allowed Sun to stay with his family when he moved from China to the United States nearly two years ago. “He sat around and didn’t say much. He had a hard time just raising his arm above his head. If he would hold onto the net it would hurt. He hated dunking the ball.”

The 23-year-old Sun has acromegaly, a condition caused by a tumor that leads his pituitary gland to overproduce growth hormone. It is why Sun is not only so tall, but weighs 387 pounds and has a 50-inch waist, a size that puts tremendous pressure on his joints. The tumor also limits testosterone production — which means he lacks strength, stamina and speed.

“In China, I would get tired running,” Sun said. “I didn’t know until I came here that I have a tumor.”

It is rare that a case of acromegaly is diagnosed so late. A native of Harbin in extreme northeastern China, Sun grew up poor. In middle school, he was sent to a state-run basketball academy. He played on a lower-level pro team but did not have access to quality medical care.

Had he lived in the United States, there is little chance his condition would have gone untreated for so long, said Stephen Tatter, a neurosurgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“It’s the kind of thing that if you saw a kid who was growing that fast, you would kind of walk over and hand his parents a card and tell them to come and see me,” Tatter said.

Without treatment, it was not only Sun’s basketball career that was threatened. Tatter’s partner, Volker Stieber, said patients with acromegaly tend to die from heart failure at a young age, usually in their 30s or 40s. “To put it simply, they tend to outgrow their hearts, so to speak,” Stieber said.

Manning, who owns a packaging company, footed most of the $100,000 bill for Sun’s first operation last year, but doctors in Los Angeles were only able to remove part of the tumor because it was wrapped around Sun’s optic nerve and they feared he could go blind.

Late last month, Stieber and Tatter performed a second operation, and it is hoped that within one to three years the tumor will dissolve and Sun’s hormone levels will become normal.

N.B.A. executives have shied away from Sun because of his medical problems, but his size alone could raise interest.

Sun hopes to start auditioning for N.B.A. teams early next year, although his doctors caution it will still be a few years before he could be completely healthy.

“I hope I will feel much, much better so I can play basketball, get strong and make some team,” Sun said. “That’s what I hope.”

thats amazing.

wow...that's great that he'd use his height to help save a dolphin.

wow, now that dolphins' a really big fish he's helping there

1) Yay!

2) That guy is WAY freaky looking.

no award for this thread?

New rule: anyone who asks for the sea creature award shall not receive one.

I didn't start the thread.

mjr

True.

i hope not, this thread is too cool for it.

i wonder if dude knows longcat.

Job well done Sproket!

(note: I didn't read the thread, just the title)