CARACAS (Web Desk) – A 20-year-old man from Venezuela has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest feet.
This 12-year-old girl sneezes 12,000 times every day!
But for Jeison Orlando Rodriguez Hernandez, his giant feet are both a blessing and a curse, giving him a great advantage for playing his favourite sport of basketball but exposing him to vicious bullying when he was younger.
The youngest of four children, Jeison grew at a normal rate until he turned 10, when his feet suddenly grew from a size 5.5 to a size 11 in less than a year.
His right foot now measures an incredible 40.1cm (1ft 3.79in) while his left measures 39.6cm (1ft 3.59in), making him a size 32 in the UK.
“When I turned 14 years old they had to start making my shoes out of trouser material, which only lasted two or three weeks, so sometimes I would go barefoot,’ said Jeison, from Maracay.
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“These are the sorts of things I would go through. I would look at other people and say how much I would like a little pair of shoes.”
Jeison added: “I suffered a lot of discrimination at school. They used to insult me and hit me.
“I used to come home traumatised. And I liked studying, I still do, but when I want to class I wanted my mum to stay because I knew that come break time they would treat me like a toy.”
Jeison’s mother, Amalia de Rodriquez, said: “They sent him to do a scan and that is when they realised Jeison suffered from an overactive pituitary.”
This meant that he grew at a much faster rate than is normal. He is also very tall, measuring in at 7ft 3in tall (2.2m).
His parents were forced to seek medical help for Jeison when he went through his massive growth spurt at age 10, when he also suffered from severe headaches and joint pain.
The previous record holder was Turkish farmer Sultan Kosen, with a shoe size of 28.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Kosen also holds the record for the world’s tallest man, standing at 8ft 3in tall (2.51m).
A German specialist shoemaker, Georg Wessels, introduced Jeison to the Guinness World Records after travelling to Maracay in the west of Venezuela to make Jeison’s shoes.
Jeison now wants to return to studying, having beaten the bullies, to learn to bake and to help people who are suffering from depression.
