Leonid Stadnik, the former veterinarian who received a helping hand from a San Clemente physician, is the tallest person in the world at 8 feet 5 inches, Guinness World Records said last week – though some dispute his exact height.
The growth spurt of the 38-year-old Ukraine resident started just before puberty, when he developed a tumor in his pituitary gland, which produces the human growth hormone.
Stadnik made headlines in Orange County earlier this year when Dr. Jim Sperber, a San Clemente internist, traveled to Ukraine and offered his assistance with what could have been an inoperable tumor.
According to Sperber, that tumor is now dead and won’t cause Stadnik to grow any further. Though his body has been surging with growth hormones for most of his life, he may lose a few inches in the next few years.
Sperber regularly emails Stadnik to keep up-to-date with his friend. In the past month, Leonid reconstructed a room in his house after a small fire erupted there. Sperber, who organized a donation drive among his patients for Stadnik’s medication, took some late-coming donations and mailed eight smoke detectors to Stadnik.
On Aug. 5, he called to wish Stadnik a happy birthday.
Stadnik wasn’t too happy with the resurgence in publicity surrounding the Guinness announcement, Sperber said. Especially irking has been the fact that Stadnik turned down an offer to be measured in early July. According to a posting on www.guinnessworldrecords.com earlier this month, Stadnik was declared the tallest living man based on measurements made by Prof. Michael Besser, an endocrinologist for The London Clinic.
But while Besser did meet with Stadnik last year for a medical examination, he denies ever measuring him.
“I didn’t measure him,” Besser said. “They thought I had … They’re misquoting.” The only evidence of Stadnik’s height is a certificate from the Ukrainian Book of Records, which measured him at 2.53 meters (or 8’4″).
Calls to Guinness representatives Monday were not returned.
