Yao Defen lives near her mother (who is only four feet, eight inches tall) in a small village in rural China. She stands 7 ft 8 in tall (2.33 m), weighs 200 kilograms (440 lb), and has size 26 (UK) / 78 (EU) feet. Yao Defen's giant stature was caused by a large tumor in the pituitary gland of her brain, which was releasing too much growth hormone and caused excessive growth in her bones.
Stephanie Lebel Bérubé
Thanks to a documentary being made for a British Television programme, two of the leading doctors specialising in Acromegaly have offered to help De-Fen for free. Upon her return home to her mother and brother, she was able to walk with crutches, unassisted by others, and was given a six-month supply of medicines and supplements in hopes of improving her condition enough to undergo surgery.
In 2009, the TLC cable TV network devoted a whole night's show to her. She suffered from a fall 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. To this day, we still have no idea what became of Yao Defen. We do not know if she survived, not only her projected 2007 surgery but just in general considering the life she had. And, judging from the number of people who land on my blog everyday searching for news of her fate.