Yao Defen (; July 15, 1972 – November 13, 2012) was a Chinese woman who was the tallest living woman, as recognized by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

. She stood at 7 ft 8 in tall and weighed 346 lb (157kg). Her

gigantism Gigantism (, ''gígas'', "wiktionary:giant, giant", plural γίγαντες, ''gígantes''), also known as giantism, is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average height, average. In humans, this conditi ...

was due to a tumor in her

pituitary gland The pituitary gland or hypophysis is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, the pituitary gland is located at the base of the human brain, brain, protruding off the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus contr ...

Early life

Yao Defen was born to poor farmers in the town of

Liuan Lu'an ( zh, c=, p=Lù'ān), is a prefecture-level city in western Anhui province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan to the northwest and Hubei to the southwest. As of the 2020 census, it had a total population of 4,393,699 inhabitants ...

in the

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

province of Shucheng County. At birth she weighed . When she was eleven years old she was about 188 centimetres (6 ft 2 in) tall. She was 210 centimetres (6 ft 11 in) tall by the age of fifteen years. The story of this "giant woman" began to spread rapidly after she went to see a doctor at the age of fifteen for an illness. Medical doctors (who also saw her after years) properly diagnosed the illness but decided not to cure her, because her family did not have the 4000 yuan for the surgery. After that, many companies attempted to train her to be a sports star. The plans were abandoned, however, because Yao was too weak. Because she was illiterate, since 1992 Defen earned a living by traveling with her father and performing. Yao's giant stature was caused by a condition called

, wherein a large tumor in the pituitary gland of the brain releases too much growth hormone and causes excessive growth (Gigantism differs from

acromegaly Acromegaly is a disorder that results in excess growth of certain parts of the human body. It is caused by excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There ...

because growth hormone takes effect before growth plates are closed; in acromegaly, growth hormone takes effect after growth plates have closed). Around 2002 a hospital in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

removed the tumor. In 2009, the

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

cable TV network devoted a whole night's show to her. She fell in her home and had internal bleeding of the brain. She recovered and felt some happiness after a visit from China's tallest man, Zhang Juncai.

Death

Yao died on November 13, 2012, at the age of 40 from an unspecified ailment.

References

External links

World's Tallest Woman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yao, Defen 1972 births 2012 deaths People from Lu'an People with gigantism

Early life

Death

See also

References

External links