In My Giant Life, viewers step into the shoes of women who are seemingly too tall and lofty for the average-sized world, standing at six feet six inches and above. They are faced with challenges every day - some because their extreme height makes performing seemingly mundane tasks like loading the dishwasher and getting into a car extremely difficult and others because the eyes of society are not as friendly to women of their stature. As a young lady that is a foot taller than the average female, life is anything but easy! From dating difficulties to simply going to the grocery store without stares, the stories in each episode get right to the heart of what it means to live life blessed with an extra foot or more.

Visit the "My Giant Life" website

Nelly Alisheva, Tallest Woman in Russia, Resumes Volleyball Career

6’10” (2.06m) Nelly Alisheva, who in 2013 received a certificate from the Guiness Book of Records declaring her the tallest woman in Russia, has resumed her volleyball career with ProtonVolley. Alisheva retired last year after a career with MGFSO, Dinamo Moscow, and Dynamo-Yantar, missed the 2015-2016 season with an injury, and then in 2017 wound up retiring.

Last year, Alisheva worked as a fitness instructor, and in April attempted to return to the sport with Russian “Major League A” league team Lipetsk-Indesit in the 2nd tier of Russian volleyball, the club declined, saying that after a year-and-a-half off the court, they didn’t trust Alisheva’s conditioning.

But in Saratov, in the top Russian league, Alisheva was given a chance in training with Proton volley, where with a new coach, Igor Karpov, Proton has swapped out almost half of its roster for the 2018-2019 season.

The team finished 6th in the 12-team Russian Super League last season, winning 8 of its 18 matches.

Alisheva is expected to play at opposite for Proton when the season begins on October 27th, after the conclusion of the World Championships. Alisheva previously played for Protom in the 2014-2015 season.

Russia has a history of fielding very tall female athletes – their 2008 Olympic bronze medal winning basketball team included Yekaterina Lisina, who stands 6’9″ and has Guiness World Records as the world’s tallest professional model and as the woman with the world’s longest legs (52.4″). In the 1980s, Uljana Semjonova, who played for the Soviet team, was one of the world’s leading basketball players at just over 7 feet (217cm) tall. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Semjonova now has Latvian nationality, allowing Alisheva the title of tallest Russian woman.

The tallest woman to ever have her height reliably recorded was Zeng Jinlian, who stood 8 feet, 1.75 inches (2.43m) tall. She lived from 1964 until 1982.

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Please help my good friend Ashley who is 6'7" and the tallest woman in Ohio. Sadly Ashley is suffering from Marfan Syndrome and is currently in great pain

Ashley's Wheelchair & Medical fund 

In 1992 I was 4 years old. It was during '92 that my father died from an aortic dissection. He was diagnosed, posthumously with Marfan Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that can wreak havoc on every part of the affected person's body. He was a man who stood 7ft tall, played basketball for Iowa State University, and lived his entire life with a diagnosis he never received. Medical knowledge of Marfan Syndrome was just starting to form in the 90's.

Three years later, at the age of 7, I was diagnosed with the same disorder. At the age of 11, when I stood 6ft tall, I was told I had to stop all strenuous physical activity immediately, or risk a sudden, unexpected death (due to aortic dissection).
I stopped playing sports and started receiving annual echocardiagrams, and began seeing specialists at The Ohio State University's medical center.

By the age of 18 my height finally began to slow, and I stood at a towering 6'7" tall. Let's just say THAT alone has been an adventure (LOL!). Don't be surprised if you see me walking around in an Ohio winter with capris on. At one time they were designed to be long pants but with 42" legs there's only so much a girl can do!

I married my first love, Robert, at the age of 18. He was in the Marine Corps and had just returned from his second deployment. We lived together in California until he was restationed in North Carolina. As soon as we got to North Carolina I found a new team of specialists at Duke Medical Center. They were fantastic. While many would complain about the military healthcare we received, I couldn't say a negative word. I was able to get the care & medications I needed to thrive!

Things were going well. I had several medical issues that were attributed to Marfan Syndrome (scoliosis, sciatica, became legally blind without glasses, etc) but they were nothing I couldn't manage with the help of the great team at Duke.

Robert & I in 2006, living in Twentynine Palms, CA 

However, my life was about to be rocked. In July of 2011 my best friend, a beautiful 19 year old gospel singer named Caitlyn Culpepper was murdered outside our home while I was asleep inside. She was a victim of domestic violence. My husband, at this point a Sgt in the Marine Corps with 8 years in the service and 26 months spent deployed, had been diagnosed with PTSD while serving his final tour in Iraq.

In September of 2011 Robert committed suicide in our home in North Carolina. I became a widow in my early 20's.

I came home to Ohio to try and rebuild a life for myself. By this point my physical health problems had started to affect my daily life. It was almost as if the grief and anxiety wrecked my body. I can honestly say I haven't been the same since.

Robert & I in 2010, we were at MCAS Cherry Point, NC here 

In the last three years my health has declined dramatically. When I lost my husband I no longer had my health insurance through the military. I could no longer afford doctor's visits, medications, and preventative care for basic health, let alone to manage my Marfan Syndrome.

One of the most painful and frustrating aspects of my condition is the effect it has on my bones. They're weak. Did you know that connective tissue has a huge impact in the formation of your bones?

In the last two and a half years I've had three stress fractures (two in my left leg, one in my right) and two tumors (which were determined to be benign but I was advised to have them monitored every 3-6 months to make sure they haven't grown or become aggressive).

I'm a 26 year old young woman who loves to laugh, joke, and have fun. But I have no quality of life left. I'm no longer able to walk through the grocery store because of lower back issues (a condition called Dural Ectasia) that cause intense pain, numbness, and tingling when I stand or walk for more than five to ten minutes. My health has deteriorated to the point where it's physically exhausting to get out of bed most mornings. My mental health is honestly about the same.

Due to my physical health problems I'm unable to work. I had originally begun Cosmetology School to become a nail artist. I thought if I could just make it through my year of schooling I'd be able to have a career that allowed me to sit. I made it 7 months before the pain was too overwhelming to continue.
I'm currently a full time student, majoring in Human Services. I want to help people who are in situations like myself. I want to be the person that answers the phone at your local agency (Job & Family Services, for example) who says, "It's going to be okay. And I'm going to do everything I can to help you". But I've come to realize, at the age of 26, that I may never have the chance to work. I may have to file for disability before the age of 30.

In the meantime, bills are mounting. Medical bills, utility bills, etc. I have to visit local food pantries often in order to eat. I DO recieve a small benefit each month from the VA, but it wasn't designed to be able to live on. I was, however, attempting to keep my head above water.

Anyone who has lived through physical pain, mental anguish, and seemingly unclimbable mountains, knows that 'when it rains it pours'. And it's pouring for me.

The last two weeks I've been experiencing excruciating pain through my left leg. I went to the same orthopedic surgeon who diagnosed my first stress fractures and found out that they believe I have not only another tumor, but another stress fracture as well. And this one lines up with the first one I had on the other side of the leg. They meet in the middle and form a line straight through my leg.

I was devestated. Incase you don't know, a stress fracture is basically a broken bone that hasn't become completely detached from itself. And this is my fourth. I don't work out, I don't run, I don't play sports..I just have Marfan Syndrome.

I started to cry and asked the doctor what he wanted me to do. He immediately told me to get OFF of my legs. He said crutches weren't an option. That I could put all my weight on my RIGHT leg because that pressure can cause another fracture to develop there as well. He looked at me and said, "Ashley if you don't get into a wheelchair you could take a step and your leg could literally snap in half".

He wants me in a wheelchair.

As it stands now I have $60 to my name.

I don't want to take a vacation, I don't want to buy a new wardrobe or a fancy new car. I honestly just want to be able to get myself a wheelchair (I have to special order one because of my size), pay for the medications I'm supposed to be on (I haven't been able to fill my prescriptions in months..including my blood pressure medication), catch up on my utility bills, and be able to afford to give someone gas money to get me back and forth to the hospital/school/etc.

I have a neurology appointment at the Cleveland Clinic (approximately an hour and a half away) in early November. The scheduling nurse advised me to come to town the night before and get a hotel room since my appointment is at 7:30AM. I told her I'd be lucky if I could even afford to get there, let alone have the luxury of spending the night beforehand.

I haven't had my aorta checked for an increase in dilation in years. I'd LOVE to be able to get to all the necessary specialists to have my heart, eyes, lungs, etc examined- but truth be told, I'm living day by day right now.

And TODAY I need a wheelchair.

A friend of mine suggested I look into gofundme. She explained that there are amazing people in the world who want to help others like myself. I spent hours pouring over the different people who have posted & donated here and have been humbled by their generosity toward other gofundme campaigns. It's mind blowing.

Please know that I don't have my hand out waiting for people to donate towards my need. If all you're able to do is say a prayer for me or spend some time researching and familiarizing yourself with Marfan Syndrome, I'm so appreciative. Awareness is huge, and being so rare, connective tissue disorders don't get much. If all you're able to do is share my story on Facebook or Twitter, thank you.

Thank you so much for your time. God Bless You :)

-Ashley

Visit Ashley's GoFundMe page

Visit Ashley's support page on Facebook

Tariq Saeed - Updated Mar 24, 2017 09:39am

TOBA TEK SINGH: Zainab Bibi, Pakistan’s tallest woman and a former holder of the ‘world’s tallest woman’ title in Guinness Book of World Record in 2003, has been suffering from diabetes and osteoporosis diseases.

She told reporters in her house in Rajana, 14 kilometres from Toba, that her height started increasing when she was 15. Now she is 45 years old. She said when she was 22, her height was 7’ 2.

Zainab has five sisters and belongs to a poor family. She is still single, as, according to her, her height was a hurdle in her marriage.

In 1998, she became a known figure when she appeared in PTV’s Neelam Ghar programme and in 2003 she was declared world’s tallest woman by Guinness Book of World Record. She has visited 15 countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Through public appearances in the country and abroad, she earned money. Back in 2008, she sought asylum in the UK on political grounds, but her plea was turned down.

She said when she was in exile in Saudi Arabia, she had met Nawaz Sharif there who had promised a monthly stipend and other measures to meet her needs after coming into power. She said she was just reminding Mr Sharif of his own words.

She said she was spending her days by using insulin and was even unable to go to hospital as she cannot travel by a bus or a rickshaw due to tallness and in critical illness she was forced to hire an ambulance to reach hospital. One of her sisters sells Pakoras outside the house and she bears Zainab’s needs. She urged the prime minister and the chief minister to help her get treatment and meet expenses.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017

Read the original article

Zainab Bibi said the premier had promised to help her financially when he was living in Saudi Arabia under exile.

Tariq Saeed - Published Apr 12, 2017

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday fulfilled a promise he had made to Zainab Bibi - country's tallest woman at 7' 2" and a former holder of 'World's Tallest Woman' title in Guinness Book of World Record 2003 - and got a cheque worth Rs2 million delivered to her in her hometown in Toba Tek Singh district.

In a previous interview with Dawn, the 45-year-old Zainab said that she was suffering from diabetes and osteoporosis. She recalled her meeting with the premier back when he was living in exile in Saudi Arabia, claiming that he had promised her a monthly stipend as well as devise measures to facilitate her once he came to power.

Following up, the premier got a cheque worth Rs2 million delivered via the area's deputy commissioner to an ailing Zainab.

The seven-feet-two-inches-tall woman has five sisters and belongs to a poor family. She remains single, as, according to her, her height had been a hurdle in finding a suitor for marriage.

Zainab became a known figure in 1998 when she appeared in PTV's Neelam Ghar programme. In 2003, she was declared world's tallest woman by Guinness Book of World Record. She has visited 15 countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Through public appearances in the country and abroad, she was able to earn a living.

She uses insulin to get by and says she cannot even visit a hospital as her height makes it increasingly difficult to travel by bus or a rickshaw. During emergencies, she calls ambulances to travel.

Narrating her plight, Zainab said one of her sisters sells pakoras outside their house and cares for all of Zainab’s needs, which was an added burden on the poverty-stricken family.

Read the original article

Meet the Women of My Giant Life

posted: 07/08/15
by: Rebecca Goldberg

COLLEEN a.k.a. COCO - San Diego

At six feet six inches tall, Colleen is not an average single gal playing the field. The 36-year-old, former pro-volleyball player is on the hunt for a man - someone between Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now - with the assistance of her best friends, Chris and Michael. She also faces the struggles of moving home to San Diego, settling into her new apartment, and tricking it out with the "tall hacks" that she uses to customize her space.

HALEIGH - Huntington Beach, California

23-year-old Haleigh stands at six feet seven inches tall and has a world of possibilities at her fingertips: a professional volleyball career that will take her around the globe, a master's degree, and all the promise that comes from being young and talented. Her much shorter, 32-year-old boyfriend, Bryan, is ready to settle down and have a handful of kids, but Haleigh's father is worried that he's going to slow his daughter down.

NANCY - Cypress, Texas

At a staggering six feet nine inches tall, Nancy is anything but an average American high school student. She is going through the rites of passage of being a teenage girl: learning to drive, finding a date to prom and then selecting the perfect dress, but none of those are easy when you're seventeen and so much taller than your classmates. Nancy learns how to rise to the challenge of being exceptional as she figures out how to navigate life as a rising basketball superstar.

LINDSAY - Los Angeles

Statuesque and striving to make a name for herself, Lindsay stands out from any crowd at six feet nine inches tall. The actress and former wrestler is the Guinness World Record holder for the Tallest Actress in a Leading Role. She gets her height from her father, but she hasn't seen him since she was 11-years-old. Ready to put the demons of her past to rest and move on, Lindsay is on a quest to locate her father and ask him why he left her all those years ago.

Read the full article on the TLC website

HIGH HOPES: Russian woman who’s 6ft 9in with 52.4in legs aiming to be crowned ‘world’s tallest model’… and she wears size 12 shoes

Ekaterina Lisina, 29, is popular with men who are attracted to taller women and those with larger feet

By Lauren Windle 29th June 2017, 12:45 pmUpdated: 29th June 2017, 2:58 pm

FORMER professional basketball player Ekaterina Lisina has a new target in her sights – being named the world’s tallest model.

Standing at 6ft 9in in her bare feet, Ekaterina, from Russia, has already been officially named the tallest woman in Russia.

After she retired from basketball, the leggy beauty launched a career in modelling and believes she is now the world’s tallest model.

Ekaterina said: “The record is held at the moment by Amazon Eve and she is 6ft 8in, which is smaller than me.

“I really want to be in the book of world records as the world’s tallest model. I also think I have a chance to be awarded the world’s longest legs. My legs are around 52.4 inches, which is longer than the current record holder”.

The 29-year-old’s striking height has drawn her fans from all over the world – many of them men with a particular interest in taller “Amazonian” women or women with big feet.

Ekaterina doesn’t just count her lengthy legs among her achievements but she has also been officially recognised as having the biggest feet of any woman in Russia with a European size 47, or a UK size 12.

She said: “I do like the attention and I hope after I get the title I am going to get even more attention!”

“I think my long legs can definitely help my modelling career because there aren’t so many models with such long legs.”

Ekaterina’s 52.4 inch pins also propelled her to great success as a professional basketball player.

At the age of 16, Ekaterina had to choose between pursuing her dreams of becoming a model and playing basketball. Already on the path to success with basketball, she chose the sport, putting her catwalk dreams on hold.

She explained: “I wanted to be a model since I was 16-years-old but at that time I started my professional basketball career.

“Basically I had to choose between modelling and basketball and of course there was no question because with basketball I had talent.”

As part of her successful career Ekaterina represented the Russia women’s team at the 2008 Olympics, where together they won Olympic bronze.

Given that Ekaterina’s parents were tall – her father is 6ft 5in and her mother 6ft 1in – Ekaterina was always expected to reach great heights.

Her father Viktor Lisin reveals that they noticed from birth that their daughter was a lot taller than average.

He said: “When we were picking her up from the hospital we noticed right away that her legs were really long and her body mainly consisted of them.”

Ekaterina’s older brother Sergei Lisina, who himself measures 6ft 6in (2 metres), recalls his not-so-little sister being picked on by other kids at school.

He said: “I remember she was bullied a few times at school because she was the tallest and I had to show up there a couple of times.

“She realised quite quickly that it gives her a huge advantage in a specific type of sport which she started doing professionally almost straight away.

“So I don’t think it was too uncomfortable for her. Also, because all of our family members are tall, not many of us felt uncomfortable about this fact.

“On the contrary, I think being tall is awesome, no doubts about that. If I had an option of adding on about four or five centimetres to my height I’d certainly agree to do that.”

But growing up, Ekaterina did find shopping for clothes a struggle.

She said: “It was very difficult for me to buy clothes and I knew I was different.

“I only really realised I was attractive when I was about 24 years old. I always had an athletic body and was always much taller than everyone else my age.

“But then I realised that being tall is very attractive and that I got a lots of attention from men. I am so comfortable with my body now.”

The single mother of one says that carrying her son, who’s now six-years-old, made her love and appreciate her body like never before.

She said: “I think during pregnancy I developed curves and I started to feel so great about it.

“Before that, I always felt like I had a teenager’s body but now I feel so feminine and confident.

“I feel really comfortable in my body right now and I don’t have any problems being taller than everyone else. I love it.”

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Sandy Allen

June 18th 1955 - August 13th 2008

who stood at 7'7 1/4" (232cm) at her tallest. We will never forget you, Sandy!

It was with deep sadness that I had to report the death of Sandy Allen on August 13th 2008.

My 6'7" friend Erika and I were supposed to meet up with Sandy back in 2007 but it didn't materialise because the people from the nursing home didn't call us back in time. That was a big shame.

Even though I never met Sandy in person I somehow felt I knew her. From what I can gather she was a friend you could always count on. Inspite of her own problems (and they were immense) she was always ready and willing to give to others. I can't think of a better way to commemorate Sandy than to fill this webpage with life and we need to make sure Sandy gets her headstone!

Sandy's grave has its headstone

Sandy's friend Rita Rose just sent me an email... "The World's Tallest Woman finally has a headstone on her grave in Shelbyville's Forest Hill Cemetery." Thanks for letting me know, Rita. This is wonderful news!

The fundraiser has been successful. There will be a headstone for Sandy Allen's grave very soon

After this website and the Niagara Falls Review asked people for help the fundraiser for Sandy's gravestone finally gained momentum.

We've done it!

I have just learned that "...readers of the Review donated $2950 to the memorial fund. Allen's family and friends are overwhelmed by the response, according to Greg Parks, administrator of the fund. The headstone will be set in the new year on her resting place, overlooking a school where Allen would frequently speak to young kids about the challenges she overcame."

Thank you very much for your help!

Joerg writes:

I am going to use this website to celebrate Sandy's life and honour her legacy. Even though I never met Sandy in person (see above) she was one of the first "super tall" women I noticed. There was a picture of Sandy and some little kids in a German newspaper about 25 years ago and I was wondering what life as a extremely tall person might be like. As you can imagine I never found out. I managed to find out what really tall women are like though - and because I did I can only say I am blessed.

Everything I heard about Sandy was positive. She didn't get so tall because she chose to be tall but because she had a tumour in her brain that caused her to grow to 7'7 1/4". I've stated it elsewhere but I'd love to reiterate: I wish Sandy hadn't had that tumour and had instead grown to a sustainable height. Sadly her growth couldn't be stopped in time but that was what made Sandy become who she was.

She lead a very difficult life which had more lows (healthwise) than highs but she always managed to make the best of it and she was always ready to give.

Thank you for being such an inspirational person, Sandy. We will never forget you!

Sandy's friend Rita Rose has kindly given me the permission to use the Eulogy she gave. Thank you very much, Rita!

Wednesday, August 13th 2008

What happened: Sandy's friend Rita Rose sent me the following email earlier today (August 13th 2008): "It is with a heavy heart that I let you know that my friend of 30 years, Sandy Allen, passed away early today in a nursing home in Shelbyville, IN. She was 53 and had been ill for several months."

Update:

Funeral services will be at Town and Country Christian Church, 2133 S. Tucker Road, Shelbyville. Calling is from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, and 9 to 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, with services at 10 a.m. Murphy-Parks Funeral Services in Shelbyville is handling arrangements.

Friday, August 15th 2008

Update:

Monday's funeral procession for the late Sandy Allen, the world's tallest woman at the time of her death Wednesday, will pause on the west side of Public Square to transfer the casket to a horse-drawn carriage.

Allen had requested the carriage processional in the years prior to her death, according to Greg Parks of Murphy-Parks Funeral Service.

Following the 10 a.m. funeral services at the Town & Country Church, 2133 S. Tucker Road, burial will be at Forest Hill Cemetery.

The procession route will leave the church and follow State Road 44 east and continue northeast on Miller Avenue to Miller Street, continuing north to Washington Street, then east to Public Square. Traffic will be stopped on all sides of Public Square. Allen's casket will be transferred to the carriage, which will proceed east on Washington Street, north on Vine Street and east on Morris Avenue to Forest Hill Cemetery.

Allen's family will follow Allen in a second horse-drawn carriage.

Monday, August 18th 2008

Sandy Allen, the 7-foot-7 woman recognized as the world’s tallest female, was remembered by mourners at her funeral today for her kindness and generosity.

More than 200 people attended the service for Allen at Town & Country Church. More people lined the streets of her central Indiana hometown as the funeral procession went to the downtown circle. Her Indiana-made casket then was placed on a horse-drawn carriage to travel about a mile to Forest Hill Cemetery for burial.

Read more here

Memorial contributions can be made to the Sandy Allen Scholarship Fund at the Blue River Community Foundation, 54 W. Broadway, Suite 1, Shelbyville, IN 46176.

Read more about Sandy on the web... 

Sandy Allen's Eulogy (by Rita Rose)

Family, friends and even strangers are gathered here today, not to mourn the death of Sandy Allen, but to celebrate her extraordinary life.

While Sandy was known to most people by her size, those who were touched by her life, even briefly, know that her character and her compassion were much bigger than any measurement found in the Guinness Book of Records.

Because she was often self-effacing, Sandy never thought she had the ability to affect people's lives or leave a positive impact on the world. Well, she was wrong. People from all over the world are expressing their admiration for the shy young woman from Shelbyville who was thrust overnight into an international spotlight, and who learned how to make her inner light shine in public.

Sandy once said, "Getting in the Guinness Book of Records really changed my life. It has given me the opportunity to travel all over the world, see places I would only have dreamed of....and it sort of brought me out of my shell."

As one person commented on the Internet, "I'm sure Sandy is now the world's tallest angel in heaven." Another said, "The world is a better place because that woman lived, as her influence and work brought so much light. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all say that about our lives at the end?

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said that he "admired very much the way she handled a uniquely difficult situation with uncomplaining grace."

If only Sandy could hear all of these accolades - but then, she'd just wonder who all these people were talking about.

It was that humble attitude that endeared her to so many. That, and the way she reached out to people, especially children, to show them how important it was to accept everyone's differences. She knew how to make everyone feel special.

Most people will remember Sandy for her great sense of humor and the way she could poke fun at her height before anyone else had a chance to. Sometimes she did it by wearing funny T-shirts that said "I like short people, I had three for lunch" or "Life's short, I'm not." Perhaps her sense of humor was a way of coping with difficult situations, but I believe her witty one-liners came naturally. One time, when I first met Sandy, we were going to Los Angeles so she could be on the Merv Griffin Show. We were making a last-minute stop in the restroom at the airport, and for those of you who are old enough to remember, there were pay toilets. I was digging around in my purse for a dime and Sandy asked me what I was doing. I said I was getting the money for the pay toilet. Without a word, she walked over to the stall, reached over the top and unlatched it from the inside. "Save your money," she said. Another time Sandy got some laughs was when the Randy Newman song, "Short People", was popular and a local DJ was having a short people's party at a local bar. You had to be 5-foot-4 or less to get in. Sandy decided we need to crash this party, and everyone went wild when she ducked through the doorway. Needless to say, she was a BIG hit.

When Shelbyville residents Julie and Dennis Wilhoit got married and Sandy attended the wedding, she was admiring the beadwork on Julie's gown. She said that she would never have the experience of wearing a wedding dress or walking down the aisle. Julie told her not to worry, that someday her prince would come. Sandy said, "Well, if he does, he'd better be 8 feet tall and riding a damn elephant!"

But beyond being the world's tallest woman, what defined Sandy Allen?

She loved puzzle books, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Harry Potter. She loved to sing "Elvira" at karaoke and beating everyone at backgammon. She loved jewelry, especially dangly earrings, and nice clothes. She loved going to Pacers games and waving at the players. She loved chocolate éclairs and brownies from Linne's Bakery. Her favorite drinks were Pepsi and Long Island iced tea. She loved to ride her motorized wheelchair down Miller Street to Kendall's Bar, at least when nobody tried to stop her. She loved wrestling matches and even beat one wrestler she didn't like over the head with a shoe. She loved talking to children and making them feel good about themselves. She loved Kenny Rogers. She loved God.

Shelbyville's most famous citizen had a kind heart and a good outlook on life despite the difficulties she encountered. She also could be stubborn, short-tempered and down on herself for making mistakes. She didn't like to watch herself on TV, but she enjoyed filming documentaries and other shows as long as she could go shopping afterwards. She was a giver and loved to find just the right present for someone.

Her brother Mike will remember Sandy as his protector. "She cared for me, and I know how lucky I am to have had her in my life." He said that, "Through the hard times and the good times one thing never did change and that was our love for each other."

When her sister Darlene was going through health problems, she leaned on Sandy, who was a great comfort to her. Even though she lived far away, she always knew Sandy's thoughts were with her through the tough times. She said she was lucky to have Sandy as her sister.

Linda Fox, Sandy's tough-love caretaker, said that Sandy kept her retirement from being dull, and that she brightened her life and kept her active.

Sandy's friend John Kleiman said that "Sandy taught me to be patient, to persevere, and gave me hope that there would always be better days."

Sandy also had a great love for animals and always had cats and dogs in her house. Now, she'll be able to once more enjoy Shelby, Barney, Teddy Bear, Becky Jane, Jitsu and all of the other critters who came into her life. Most of all, Sandy is once again with her beloved grandmother, Emma Warfield, whose unconditional love helped Sandy get through the hard times growing up. Emma, instilled in her the values of hard work and being proud of who she was, among other lessons that Sandy never forgot. Sandy Allen was a gentle giant who was beloved around the world. She had a caring spirit, and that spirit will remain in all of us as long as we keep Sandy in our hearts.

Rita Rose 8/18/08

In an essay for The Cut, Ann Friedman paints a pretty off-putting picture of what it’s like to be a 6'2" woman: fielding daily comments and personal questions (“How tall is your boyfriend?” “Do you ever wear heels?”), getting gawked at by strangers and children. “My height is something I discuss every day,” she writes. Sounds exhausting.

Being a very tall woman is assumed to be such an undesirable condition that one-third of pediatric endocrinologists in the U.S. offer growth-suppression treatments for girls on track to reach 6' or above. But are all tall women really dissatisfied with their height? In a 2007 paper for the Journal of Adolescent Health, a team of sociologists and psychologists, led by Janet Lever of California State University, explored women’s feelings about their height.

Lever and her colleagues conducted an online survey (on MSNBC.com and Elle.com) of over 30,000 women of varying heights, and found that the women who were happiest with their height were between 5'7" and 5'11": 80 percent of the women in this range said they were content with their stature. Even among women 6' tall, over three-quarters -77 percent - said they "felt okay about their height"; among women 6'1" to 6'3", that figure dropped to around 60 percent. Feeling too short was a far more common complaint: only 37 percent of 5'1" women reported feeling satisfied with their height, and even among women 5'6" to 5'8" - solidly above average - a large majority of those who are dissatisfied want to be taller, not shorter. “Our data indicate that dissatisfaction with tall stature is not nearly as widespread as is commonly assumed,” they conclude.

Read the original New Republic article

See Just How Drastically Women's Heights Differ Around the World

Where do you stand?

By Christina Heiser, February 11, 2016

Chances are, your girlfriends run the gamut of heights (we all have that barely 5' pal and also one who towers over everyone else). So what's the norm?

The average woman in the U.S. is 5'4", according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And heights totally vary around the globe, as you can see from the image above. The shortest ladies come from Bolivia — they stack up at just 4'8" on average — while the tallest hail from the Netherlands, at 5'7" on average.

Then there are the extremes.

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Tall or small, it's all about the basketball!

When it comes to one of the nations' favorite games, it takes playersof all heights help to make the game what it is.

In this quirky photograph of the Kentucky Wildcats Ladies basketball team, it's easy to work out which the players are and who are the teams' cheerleaders.

The girls are all college students. Alyssa Rice on the left is a 6'3" freshman, while the tall female on the right is 6'6" junior Ivana Jakubcova.

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Growing up, my dad and other respective members of the Johnson clan had a tried-and-true warning:

Straighten up and behave, or else face the wrath of Tall Betsy and Bloody Bones.

For the uninitiated, Tall Betsy and her accomplice  /lover? / prisoner Bloody Bones snatch naughty children away from their parents and - among other terrible acts that were usually left to the collective imagination of my brother and me - grind their bones to dust.

I was maybe 8 and my brother 6 when we first heard the scraping sound of fingernails along our playroom window. We'd run out of the room, hoping to find someone, only to be stopped at the front door. Instead of being greeted by our parents, we'd see a figure, tall, and scratching at the door, just out of view. We'd scream, run into the bedroom, and wait to be comforted by our parents, occasionally promising to be better and not bicker with each other.

Tall Betsy, an abnormally tall woman with white, stringy hair, dark eyes and blood-stained lips, used to haunt my dad, his siblings and cousins while they stayed at their Grandma's house. In the mid-1960s there'd be about half a dozen children playing at any given time and causing some sort of stir. My dad recalls the single light bulbs that would hang in the center of each room, carelessly tossing shadows along the high ceilings and wooden floor with gaps between the planks.

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By Zoe Beaty - 23 September 2015
Junior Commissioning Editor/ Senior Features Writer

‘Oh my goodness!’ says the photographer, as he crouches by my feet. I’m sat in probably one of the most compromising positions of my career so far: squeezing (with ungraceful difficulty) both bum cheeks on to a chair more or less the size of one of my size eight – OK, sometimes size nine – shoes. It’s a child’s chair and I, quite obviously, am a rather large adult. Or, as the photographer puts it between bellowing ‘Ha!’ every couple of seconds, ‘You’re enormous!’

He was, of course, joking. And I didn’t mind – besides, it’s not like I haven’t heard it before. I’m six feet tall with a 35-inch leg – which makes me far from small, despite being a size 12. I’m the girl who blocks your view at gigs, who hugs you awkwardly and walks with a subtly bowed head and a slightly self-conscious stoop.

Being a tall woman naturally attracts a lot of attention. As many other ‘outsized’ women will know, people (usually strangers) like to point out height as a ‘surprising’ fact that may have formerly gone unnoticed. To get you up to speed, if you’re of average height or smaller,imagine being told every day – or most days – that you have ears. ‘Oh, yes, I do,’ you’d reply, acting politely enlightened. Then,if you’re like me, you’ll turn around to obscure your face while violently rolling your eyes. Of course, despite annoyances (being asked, ‘How’s the weather up there?’ is rage-inducing), being tall has its perks– even the term ‘above average’ height connotes positivity and being ‘statuesque’ has long been viewed as an attribute of superiority. It’s the reason most women torture their toes in sky-high heels and why men on Tinder blatantly lie about their height. But, despite so many women coveting loftiness, its association with masculinity often means that, practically, it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be.

It might sound like a humblebrag, but having legs too long to fit under a desk –or, on a more uncomfortable level, within the confines of a standard plane seat – is genuinely pretty irritating. In women’s toilets I can rarely look in the mirrorwithout doing an awkward knee bend– something I often whip out in group photos, lest my head gets completely cutoff. Hugging short people means my chest is in perfect alignment with their face and I’ve only ever found one bath that was long enough for me to lie down in. At school I was the ‘lanky’ one, sometimes called names for standing out a little too much and put in detention for my standard-size uniform skirtwhich, simply because I had more to show, revealed more leg than the other girls’ skirts did. And as a young teenager I was disliked by boys who I unwittingly emasculated. It’s hard to put your arm around someone almost a foot taller than you – they tended to prefer the ‘cuter’ girls who could sit daintily on their lap. Later, my height became a more prominent part of my identity – while my friends were defined as ‘the funny one’ or ‘the pretty one’, I was branded ‘the tall one’.

Slowly, as I went out more to pubs and clubs, my body became a kind of public property. Guys would think nothing of walking up to me and prodding my legs as if to prove they were real, and sweaty men pressed their clammy bodies against mine in a ‘height comparison’ game. If they ‘won’, their chests would swell with pride at their newly validated masculinity– if they lost, I’d be not only tall but ‘freakishly’ so, to soothe their bruised egos. Compliments always come off as slightly back-handed: ‘Don’t worry,’ I’m often told, ‘I like tall women!’ as though I should be grateful that someone is finally interested in me, despite my being a small giantess.

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Tall Girls auf DVD

Wer TALL GIRLS bei ARTE verpasst hat, kann sich immer noch hier im Store die Kinofassung auf DVD bestellen!

Und so funktioniert es: wenn Ihr in Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz wohnt und eine deutsche Fassung kaufen möchtet, drückt Ihr einfach auf “store” und wählt aus, in welches Land der Film geschickt werden soll, bevor Ihr bezahlt. Ihr könnt über PayPal direkt bezahlen, auch wenn Ihr keine Kreditkarte habt, sondern nur eine EC-Karte. Wer nicht gern online einkauft oder keine EC-Karte hat, kann sich gern mit uns in Verbindung setzen. Ihr könnt uns das Geld dann direkt überweisen. Wer eine internationale Fassung bestellen möchte oder großen Freundinnen oder Verwandten im Ausland eine Freude machen möchte: bitte drückt auf den englischen Button und dann auf “store.” Dort habt Ihr die Auswahl zwischen zwei internationalen Fassungen. Wir bearbeiten jeden Eingang sofort und verschicken die Filme so schnell wie möglich! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Tall Girls

Eins davon bin ich. Ich bin Filmemacherin und 1,86m groß. Fünf Jahre habe ich gebraucht, um diesen Film wirklich zu machen. Warum? Weil ich – wie alle großen Frauen bisher nicht gern darüber geredet habe, wie es sich wirklich anfühlt, so groß zu sein. Mit diesem Film gehen wir an die Öffentlichkeit. Das Leben ab 1,85 ist anders. Egal, ob Du Model bist, Basketballerin oder ein völlig normales Leben führst. Hier oben gelten andere Regeln.

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Tall Girls DVD is available!

The Tall Girls DVD is available right here at our "store". This it how it works: there are two international versions available, one is PAL, the other NTSC, both with English subtitles. If you are not sure what you need, contact us, we'll look it up for you. Rule of thumb: you'll need NTSC in Canada, the US, Japan and much of South America and PAL in most of Europe and Australia. If you are from a SECAM country in Eastern European countries or from France please make sure that your DVD player will play a PAL DVD. Also, I would like to draw your attention to the less digitally inclined. If you have tall mothers or grandmothers or even great-grandmothers who grew up tall in the 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s, please make them aware of this film or – even better – give it to them as a gift. During my screening tour with Tall Girls I met tall women well over 70 years old who had had a very annnoying and difficult time growing up. Some of their stories moved us to tears. They told us that for them TALL GIRLS was a belated recognition that they had not been alone in their experiences. It's so much easier for us to connect with each other now so let's applaud those who had to figure it out all by themselves and paved the way for us. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tall Girls

I'm one of them. I'm a filmmaker and 6'1" (1.86m) tall. It took me five years to make this film. Why? Because like most tall women, I don't like talking about what it really feels like to be so tall. But now we're going public. It doesn't matter if you're a model or basketball player or if you lead a very normal existence, life above 1.85m (6') is different. Other rules apply up here. "Tall Girls – A Story Of Giants" chronicles my journey into the heart of tall.

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Tall Girls - eins davon bin ich. Ich bin Filmemacherin und 1,86m groß. Fünf Jahre habe ich gebraucht, um diesen Film wirklich zu machen. Warum? Weil ich - wie alle großen Frauen bisher nicht gern darüber geredet habe, wie es sich wirklich anfühlt, so groß zu sein.

Mit diesem Film gehen wir an die Öffentlichkeit. Das Leben ab 1,85 ist anders. Egal, ob Du Model bist, Basketballerin oder ein völlig normales Leben führst. Hier oben gelten andere Regeln. Tiiu und Michelle sind Top-Models und zu groß für ihren Job. Arianne hat eine Mutter, die ihre Größe nicht mag. Sarah lässt sich operieren, um nicht 1,90m zu werden, Lea nimmt Hormone, die für Kinder nicht zugelassen sind. Lisa ist zwei Meter groß und könnte ein Basketball-Star werden, wenn sie sich sehr anstrengt. Aber sie möchte lieber ein richtiges Mädchen sein.

Das Internet ist voll von Mädchen, die an ihrem Wachstum verzweifeln und bereit sind, alles zu tun, damit es endlich aufhört. Jeder Kinderarzt hat heutzutage eine Größentabelle an der Wand hängen, an der man von klein auf erkennen kann, ob man normal ist oder nicht.

Aber was ist eigentlich normal? Jede Norm ist ein Durchschnittswert aus vielen Menschen. Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass man dieser Norm exakt entspricht, ist sehr gering. Trotzdem wachsen wir in einer Gesellschaft auf, in der uns vielfach über unsere Familie und unser Umfeld sehr deutlich vermittelt wird, ob wir reinpassen oder nicht. Besonders als Mädchen. Groß, laut und selbstbewusst - besser nicht.

Dabei werden wir oft das, was andere in unseren Körpern sehen. Tiiu, Michelle, Arianne, Sarah, Lea und Lisa zeigen in diesem Film, wie sie leben, was sie fühlen und wie sie mit ihrer Größe umgehen. Und was ihre Größe aus ihnen gemacht hat.

Manchmal ist es zum Weinen, oft zum Lachen, vor allen Dingen aber verliebt man sich in diese Tall Girls, die ganz offen zeigen, wie schwer und gleichzeitig befreiend es sein kann, neben der Norm zu leben.

Tall stories: Five Northern Ireland ladies tell us about the high life

Some of the world's most beautiful women stand around six feet tall. Think of a supermodel and the chances are she is over six feet tall - and that's before she has pulled on a pair of teetering heels and strode down the runway.

Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Erin O'Connor are all at least 5ft 10ins, while iconic beauties such as the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was also about an inch off the six foot mark,- once she had slipped into a pair of courts and added a hat Prince Charles could look like a rather small man indeed.

To put it all into some sort of lofty perspective, the height of the average woman in the UK is a diminutive 5ft 3ins. No wonder, then, that so many of us can only look up to these fashion icons with envy.

After all, we imagine, clothes would look so much better if our legs were just a couple of inches longer. How easy it would be to stand out from the crowd - quite literally.

Then again, maybe our longing to be taller amounts to the height of nonsense. In a world where the average rules, many taller ladies complain that finding clothes to suit their measurements isn't easy - hence the rise of chains such as Long Tall Sally.

And then, of course, there is the delicate area of relationships.

Some might reckon it would take a big man indeed to be happy to step out with a woman who was, er, head and shoulders above him. Just look at how quickly Caroline Wozniacki stuck the stiletto in when Rory McIlroy ended his relationship with her, with the low blow that being single meant it would be nice to be able to wear heels again.

So, what is it really like to be a tall woman? We talk to five ladies about the long and short of it.

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June 14, 2017 by Magdalena Kegel In News.

Tall, thin girls, adolescents and young women are at higher risk of developing endometriosis, according to a study by U.S. and French researchers.

How body composition influences the risk of endometriosis is a matter of debate. Researchers at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and INSERM at the Paris-Saclay University in France hypothesized that hormone-related factors play a role.

The study, “Associations among body size across the life course, adult height and endometriosis,” confirmed earlier research on the connection between body composition and endometriosis. It was published in the journal Human Reproduction.

Researchers found 2,416 French women diagnosed with endometriosis among 61,208 who were part of a prospective study. That kind of study is a long-term look at people with mostly similar characteristics, such as age.

Since cancer can impact a woman’s risk of developing endometriosis, the researchers excluded those with a history of cancer from the study.

Women who were lean at 8 years old, when they had their first period, or when they were 20–25 years old were at higher risk of developing endometriosis than those with average or stouter body sizes, the team found.

They also found a link between body size when a woman was older and endometriosis, but it was not statistically significant.

The link between leanness and endometriosis held up when researchers accounted for factors such as the age when a woman had her first period, whether she had used oral contraceptives, and the level of her physical activity.

In terms of height, the study found that women 165 cm (about 5-5) or taller were more likely to have endometriosis than women who were less than 158 cm (5-2 feet). One hundred sixty-five centimeters equates to about 5 feet, 5 inches and 158 cm to about 5 feet, 2 inches.

Another finding was that those of medium height were at higher risk of developing endometriosis than those who were shorter.

Several factors can influence height, so the research team also measured a woman’s height while sitting and her leg length. Women with a sitting height of 87 cm — about 34 inches — or more were at increased risk of developing endometriosis than those with a sitting height of 82 cm — about 32 inches — or less. There was no correlation between leg length and the disease.

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