A Nevada woman is almost seven feet tall and 400 pounds, due to a rare disease that causes gigantism.
Diagnosis
Tanya Angus like swimming, the weightlessness of the water relieves the constant pain she feels due to her condition. It all started with a small tumor that pressed against her pituitary gland, and the excess pressure causes an abnormal release of growth hormone.
Tanya began growing and has not stopped, she chronicles her size as she grows in pictures. Starting as an average sized girl, Angus, now in her mid twenties is 7 feet tall and weight about 400 pounds.
Treatments
Tanya has went through sever treatments and surgeries to remove or reduce the tumor that is constantly pressing against her gland. Her mother stated that physicians have noted her blood levels have dropped to withing normal range. This news was music to her mothers ears, as she has renewed hope that her daughter will stop growing thus adding more time to Tanya’s life.
Causes and The Disease
The term is typically applied to those whose height is not just in the upper 1% of the population but several standard deviations above mean for persons of the same sex, age, and ethnic ancestry. The term is seldom applied to those who are simply “tall” or “above average” whose heights appear to be the healthy result of normal genetics and nutrition. Gigantism is usually caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland of the brain. It causes growth of the hands, face, and feet.In some cases the condition can be passed on genetically through a mutated gene.
