Can’t stop growing! Life’s a nightmare for 2.5 metre basketball star
Published 03 January, 2008, 15:36
Aleksandr Sizonenko is now almost 2.5 metres tall and still growing. He's one of the tallest men in the world and used to be a star of Soviet basketball. But what once seemed to be his major advantage eventually forced him to abandon his career.
Happy past and tragic present…
Aleksandr, who’s originally from Ukraine, is the only one in his family to suffer from extreme growth.
He admits his condition makes daily life difficult but it also gave him the chance to make a name for himself in professional basketball, which was a dream come true.
A member of the Soviet basketball team, in the 1970s and 1980s he used his size to great effect, appearing in twelve national games, but he had to give up his passion when his growth started to impede his mobility.
Now 49 and divorced, he lives a simple life in a 2-room apartment in St. Petersburg. He says it’s hard to imagine just how much his life has changed.
Aleksandr Sizonenko says when he used to play basketball everyone knew him, but their memory soon faded when new faces came on the scene.
“Also, in Soviet times everything was provided for us, but when I left the team all I had was a blank sheet of paper and had to start life all over again,” he regrets.
Indeed he says quitting the sport was a very upsetting time.
However he hasn’t turned his back on basketball completely and is a member of the disabled basketball team in St. Petersburg where he gets to practice and pass on his skills.
Struggle for life
As a child Aleksandr suffered a tumour on his pituitary gland which led to excessive growth. Despite surgery doctors say he’ll never stop getting bigger. He relies on a daily cocktail of medicine to keep him healthy but the drugs are expensive and his monthly pension of US$ 120 means he can barely afford them.
He says he gets little help from the government, but has apparently had other offers including one from a German anatomist.
Gunter Von Hagens, who is famous for his controversial exhibition of skinned corpses, allegedly agreed to sponsor Aleksandr’s treatment if he let his body be put on public display after he died. Aleksandr refused to do this despite the financial rewards which would not only have helped Aleksandr, but also his son Sasha who’s been diagnosed with a heart problem.
Father and son
Aleksandr and Sasha get on with life without any outside assistance.
Their plight hasn’t gone unnoticed, as they were featured in a recent TV documentary about former Soviet sports stars. Sasha hopes this coverage might mean his dad gets the support he needs
“I’m very proud of my dad; he’s big, strong and very funny, but I think its a shame he had to stop playing basketball, and now he can't even afford his medication and has to stay at home,” Sasha says.
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