Sandy Allen, 53, who grew to be more than seven feet, seven inches tall died Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana.
A spokeswoman for the Heritage House Convalescent Center in Shelbyville said Allen "had been in failing health in recent years and died of natural causes."
She had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest woman.
By the time she was 10, Allen already stood six foot three. By 16, she was over seven feet tall, the Indianapolis Star daily said.
It's believed that a tumor on her pituitary gland caused her abnormal growth.
She'll probably end up being the tallest woman in (recorded) history, because we can now identify and remove the tumors that caused that kind of abnormal growth. And a good thing, too, because the human body is not designed to work at that size; the leg muscles can't support the weight, the back buckles, the heart gives out. Most of the people I know who are as tall as me (4σ) already have back and circulatory problems. Not to mention the difficulty of finding pants with a 27 inch waist and a 35 inch inseam.
I met her once, actually, completely randomly, when she was a teenager, and took an interest. She was always very sweet in interviews and took a very endearing sort of attitude towards her condition; she seemed to have resolved to make the best of it and keep a positive attitude. It's sad that she died so young and it's a reminder that being very large is a major impediment to good health.
Surely not when SHE was a teenager?
Hey, Megan, make a few calls. Maybe you can get her hand-me-downs.
You're tall?! Really!? Why haven't you ever mentioned that before?
Anyway, what kind of food do you like to eat?
I would second Freddie's comments. I never met her, but I did watch a science documentary on one of the Discovery channels in which she was the subject. She handled her fate with humor and great dignity. It is quite saddening to hear that she has died.
I'm surprised anyone on here cared about Sandy Allen beings that only preteenie boppers cared about her.
Most of the people I know who are as tall as me (4σ) already have back and circulatory problems.
Really? Because 6'2" doesn't seem like the sort of unusual height that I'd expect to cause height-related health problems at all (and my husband, father, and sister are all within an inch of that height, so I've got at least some anecdotal basis for my belief). It's very tall for a woman, but I had no idea that unusual height had different health repercussions for women than men.
I don't believe she was the tallest woman in recorded history, only that she was the tallest living as of her death. Various sources list other taller women, now deceased.
Haha when I was a teenager, thanks for catching that.
My understanding from the nice orthopedist is that it has to do with your distance from the mean for your gender, not absolute height; women's bodies are engineered somewhat differently. For example, tall women often have hip problems because their legs are angled out of the socket rather than more straight up and down, which is, in his words, "Like a giant lever prying at the joint". In general, men's bones are thicker and they have more muscle mass to support the height. Fat isn't as structurally protective, sadly. People who are very far from the heigh mean tend to die younger and have more health problems, though not so dramatically much younger as this woman or Andre the Giant.
You could fit silver dollars through Andre the Giant's rings. Silver dollars! True story.
I'm not sure that simple distance from the mean height is the relevant number. Weight seems much more likely to be the relevant factor (which, admittedly, has some correlation with height).
In part because I recall reading (years ago) of a mechanical engineering study which concluded that the human knee was engineered to support a mass of about 180 pounds. Like most systems, it can function somewhat above design specs. But that still puts most Americans at risk of serious knee problems, even if they are merely of "average height."
wj,
The torsional effects of elongated femurs and tibia scale with length linearly. A 10% longer bone supporting the same weight will experience a 10% greater rotational force during walking. Both the height and weight transmit higher forces to the joints, but in general height hits both as taller people are heavier.
The acceleration and deceleration effects are magnified as well, though the exact formulas escape me, but I believe they are more like 2nd order - 10% length => 21% increase.
While this applies to the hips and knees, the vertebra experience similar forces, while experiencing both compression and flexion while waling. The longer your torso, the more forces it absorbs and the easier it is for it to want to slump over.
"People who are very far from the heigh mean tend to die younger and have more health problems, though not so dramatically much younger as this woman or Andre the Giant."
Andre's profession probably took a lot of years off of his life. Most professional wrestlers live with constant pain. The additional strain when you weigh 500 pounds or so must be immense.
In a bizzare twist of fate, she lived in the same nursing home as the world's oldest woman.
Not sure what's going on in Shelbyville, IN, but I won't be going there any time soon.
It's a lucky day for the Atlantic when Megan decided to be an economist/writer rather than a model, considering her measurements. Although, had she chosen the latter career, she would have the better access to stylists, who would probably help her with 35-inch inseam pants, and probably with shoes, too. Considering the arithmetics of human anatomy, only 3-inch heels can explain such a pant length for a 6'2" female body. Either that, or really, really long legs. In which case it is twice as felicitous an event that she ended up at the Atlantic instead of Ford (models).
One Chinese woman, and possibly another, were taller.
Zeng Jinlian who died quite young. She could not stand to full height because of scoliosis.
Yao Defen who is alive. The claim she was taller than Allen is disputed, but the documentation leads me to think it's plausible she's the tallest alive now. Her story is also tragic. As her family was poor farmers she didn't get the tumor removed and she also remained pretty much illiterate. They were isolated enough from the system she apparently had brothers. Anyway later an unscrupulous circus practically locked her in a cage and then stole all her money at knife point when they no longer could use her. (She did seem to enjoy the memories of performing magic tricks though) For a time she could barely get out of bed and I'm not sure if she's received proper treatment even now.
Most likely the "giantesses" of the future will occur in situations like hers. Namely poor or isolated people in developping nations. There are cases of women being up to 6 foot 8, and maybe more, without gigantism. Basketball Hall of Famer Anne Donovan is apparently 6 foot 8, but she's in her 40s and coaches. I think she's a coach of the current Olympic team. I'm not finding anything on her having gigantism.
There's quite likely to be taller women in the future.
They won't be silly enough to live in full Earth gravity however.
27 waist and 35 inch inseam? You sound like my sister. She disappears whenever she turns sideways.