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TALL PEOPLE - SANDY ALLEN - 7 FT 1'! - 1
Sandra (Sandy) Elaine Allen (born June 18, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is currently the second tallest living woman in the world according to Guinness World Records. She is 7' 7ΒΌ inches (232 cm) in height.
She has written a book named Cast A Giant Shadow, and has appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records since 1976. Her abnormal height is due to a tumor in her pituitary gland that caused it to release growth hormone uncontrollably. At age 22, she underwent surgery for the condition. Without this she would have continued to grow and suffer further medical problems associated with gigantism.
She appeared in the Academy Award winning Italian film Il Casanova di Federico Fellini, a TV movie called Side Show and in a Canadian/American documentary film called Being Different. The New Zealand band Split Enz immortalized her in a song, "Hello Sandy Allen," released on their 1982 album Time and Tide.
Allen uses a wheelchair because her legs and back cannot support her tall stature in a standing position. At one point in her life, she was bedridden due to disease, and consequently her muscles atrophied. Because of this physical limitation, she currently lives in Shelbyville, Indiana, in a retirement center.
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