How does the Ukrainian giant live in the USA

Velikan Igor Vovkovinsky with his mother Svetlana. Photos from the personal archive.

To the question “Who is the tallest man in the USA?” For six years now, one answer has been given: Igor Vovkovinsky. The height of the Ukrainian, who lives in Minnesota, is 2 meters 34 centimeters. In 2010, he entered the Guinness Book of Records, replacing actress Sandra Helen Allen from Indiana, whose height was 2 cm less. The tallest man in America told ForumDaily what the giants are sad about.

The big man has lived in the city of Rochester for more than 25 years and spent his childhood in Kyiv. He once dreamed of Hollywood and appeared on the Eurovision stage, but today he has only one desire left - to live without pain.

Not like everyone else

“My life story is not like others, because even as a child I was not like everyone else,” says Igor Vovkovinsky. “I couldn’t run, jump and gallop along with my friends for long. Already at the age of 6, I clearly understood that I was not like other children. My height then was more than 170 cm. My mother took me to doctors, but in Ukraine the doctors just shrugged their shoulders and didn’t even mention the diagnosis. Then my mother began writing letters to various clinics asking for help. American specialists assumed that I had a pituitary gland disease and invited me to visit them. They promised to do everything to stop the growth.”

Igor remembers well this period in his life and says that he was one of the most difficult:

“I cried for a long time. I remember how I didn’t want to leave my grandmother, brother and all my relatives, but there was no way out.

“I remember the first time we flew on a big plane and I remember my first impressions of America. Then I was surprised by the many expensive cars, clean streets and smiling people around,” says Vovkovinsky. “We didn’t even think that we could stay here for the rest of our lives.” And what could we be talking about if my mother and I didn’t know a single word in English! We walked around with a dictionary and looked up the word “Hello!”

Every two or three years, Igor comes to Kiev. Photos from the personal archive

Life from surgery to surgery

Igor flew to America with hope: he expected the doctors to make him like the other guys. But the only thing they could do in the USA was to make sure that growth hormone was no longer released.

“I was examined for six months, and my mother and I practically lived in the clinic: we came at 9 in the morning and returned home at seven in the evening,” says Igor Vovkovinsky. — Then there was the first operation, the second, the third, and today I have more than thirty of them.

Fortunately, the doctors stopped my growth and for that I am very grateful to them.

True, twenty-four surgical interventions are not related to growth arrest, but to the legs. Sores are opening on my legs, so I can’t walk for long. I only move around the house or go to the store. Now I dream that doctors will free me from the pain in my legs, with which I go to bed and wake up every day.”

Best friend is the dog Tarzan. Photo from personal archive.

Prisoner of his house

Despite the fact that Igor’s life is not at all like a holiday, he tries to see the positive in everything. With a smile, he tells how they do everything quickly in America: “Here you can build a house in just six months. My family built it especially for me. The ceilings are high here, almost 5 meters. Large doorways. Even the sofa, washbasin, shower - everything was made taking into account my height. We found a master with golden hands, he also turned out to be from Ukraine. My home is now comfortable, and this is very important, because I am a prisoner within four walls. Because of problems with my legs, I practically don’t go anywhere.”

But Igor doesn’t get bored at home and doesn’t sit idle. His hobby is cooking.

“The signature dish is liver and onions,” says the giant. — I like to cook different delicacies in the oven. Unfortunately, I haven’t mastered borscht, but my mother spoils me with it almost every week.”

I had to give up fishing, which Igor had been passionate about for many years and could sit with a fishing rod for hours. He hasn’t gone fishing for two years now—his health doesn’t allow it. But I had more time to read and even write myself.

“I’ll tell you a secret, I started writing a book about the adventures of a boy,” Igor shared with ForumDaily. “It contains a lot of memories from my childhood.” That boy, like me, went to his grandmother, climbed trees there and ate her delicious cabbage rolls.”

Every two to three years, Igor and his mother, who is his closest friend and helper for him, go on home leave. There are friends, relatives and dad. And yet, despite the fact that Igor lives very poorly, he sends humanitarian aid to Ukraine:

“Yes, our family lives from paycheck to paycheck, but we believe that helping our homeland is our responsibility. Every month we send 2-3 boxes to those in need in Ukraine. Recently, through a volunteer woman with whom we are friends, we were given blankets, warm clothes and shoes. If anyone wants to join and help our family, we have account to Paypal."

Igor's family does not lose touch with their homeland and sends humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Photos from the personal archive.

Giant boots

According to the giant, buying clothes is not a problem now. The Internet comes to the rescue, and you can order things of any size. When this was not possible, my mother, an engineer by profession, had to retrain as a seamstress so that her son could have new clothes.

“Nowadays you can buy everything, but my mother still sews for me,” Igor says with a smile. “Just a few days ago she finished sewing me a warm jacket. So interesting, on top there are palm trees and the sun, and inside, on the lining, there are bears. I really like the jacket and my mother is happy with the work. But with shoes it’s much more difficult.

The people who made my shoes for the order said that I had 58 size. Of course, there is no such sale.

One day I wrote a cry for help on the Internet. I only had one pair of shoes, and it cost about $15000 to make a new one, as Reebok told me. Kind people helped me collect twice as much as I needed, and later, a letter came from Reebok management that they wanted to give me sneakers and would not take money. I am very grateful to them that I now have such light and comfortable shoes. You know, when I first saw my new sneakers, I could barely restrain myself from crying. They embroidered a trident on the heels, and my name was on the sole.”

Reebok made personal sneakers for Igor. Photos from the personal archive.

Eurovision, Hollywood and meeting with Obama

Igor Vovkovinsky does not hide the fact that he has many problems that need to be solved. And it's not just the legs or the drugs that need to be taken every day. He wants to get behind the wheel again. I learned to drive Igor's mother, and for a long time he even drove behind the wheel of an old minibus, which was remade specially for him. But now you need to find a master who can assemble a car for a big man.

Igor does not want to talk about difficulties for a long time; on the contrary, he prefers to recall the bright events in life.

“It was a great honor for me to meet Barack and Michelle Obama. They came to Rochester in 2009. I then ordered a T-shirt with the words "World's Biggest Obama Supporter" and went to meet Obama. I wanted to either shake his hand or chat. But in the end it turned out to be both, and he even took a souvenir photo with Michelle Obama. It was easy to communicate with them, I heard that they very well understand how ordinary people live.”

Many American publications wrote about the meeting between Obama and his “biggest fan,” and Igor instantly became a famous person. A year later, his growth was recorded by representatives of the Guinness Book of Records, and an offer came from Hollywood to act in a movie. In 2011, the comedy “Celibate Week” was released. In it, Igor plays a tall comrade of one of the heroes.

“I met many Hollywood actors,” Igor recalls with a smile filming and working with Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeis, and Jenna Fischer. — The main character of the film, actor Owen Wilson, turned out to be a very nice guy in real life. I was then trying to change my life, “I was sick” of films, I remember how I looked at the filming process and dreamed that someday I would become a famous actor myself. I wanted to meet my favorite actor Tom Hanks and star in a movie like Black Hawk Down. But, alas, fate did not give me such a chance. I can’t even go to the cinema with my friends anymore to watch something new. Now all that’s left to do is watch movies on your favorite couch.”

Igor leads a rather modest and closed lifestyle. Despite the fact that he starred in both a Hollywood comedy and two documentaries (“Inside Extraordinary People: The Science of Gigantism” and “Dr. Oz”), a letter from the group that prepared the performance of Ukrainian Zlata Ognevich at Eurovision in Sweden, took it as a joke. They wrote him several letters before Igor believed that these were not scammers, but a real offer.

In 2013, he flew to Malmo, Sweden and easily accomplished what was required by the script - the “fairytale giant” had to carry Zlata onto the stage.

Then Igor became the hero of all Ukrainian and many European media. They wrote about his plans to conquer Hollywood, elicited details of his personal life. But they did not write about the main thing.

Big dream big man

“I don’t want much at all. I dream that pain will go away from my life. Once and for all! — Igor Vovkovinsky shared. — Doctors shrug their shoulders, and I try to help myself. Yes, they give me medications that relieve the pain, but it goes away for a while and then comes back again. At first I tried to find people with similar problems, but no one answered me.

But hope dies last, and I believe that I will find those people who will help me. In the meantime, all I can do is look for the positives in my growth. And I would also like to convey one wish to all readers. Tell your mom “Thank you” every day and appreciate what you have. When I see people worrying about not having an iPhone 7, it makes me laugh. Material things don’t matter at all and you should understand as early as possible that this is not where happiness lies.”

With the family on the eve of Christmas. Photo facebook.com/igorvovk

See also:

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