The tallest man in America has passed away at the age of 38.
Igor Vovkovinskiy, who stood at 7ft 8.33 (2.35m), was receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he died from heart disease on August 20.
His grieving mother, Svetlana Vovkovinska, shared the heartbreaking news on Facebook and said that Igor remained positive until his last moments.
“Igor Vovkovinskiy Igor died on August 20 at 22:17 pm in hospital from heart disease. He and his older brother Oleh were with him until the end,” the mother wrote.
“His last dinner was: a piece of Kyiv cake and Fanta. A few hours before his death, he was accompanied by Oleh’s wife Alla and children.
“Igor was glad to see them, and although it was difficult for him to speak, he tried to joke about his nephew Andriy, whether he had learned the Ukrainian language in a month in Ukraine.”
It was in 1989 when Igor, who was born on September 8, 1982, in Ukraine, first came to the Mayo Clinic as a child for a tumor that had been pressing against his pituitary gland.
The tumor caused the pituitary gland to secrete abnormal levels of growth hormone.
He was declared America’s tallest living person by the Guinness World Records when he was 27.
Igor’s older brother, Oleh Ladan, said to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that Igor was like a celebrity when he arrived from Ukraine because of his height.
In 2013, he carried Ukrainian-American contestant Zlata Ognevich onto the stage during the Eurovision Song Contest.
But his father said that Igor “would have rather lived a normal life than be known.”
Zlata also paid tribute on Instagram, writing: “Igor, my friend. Your heart stopped beating, but in my heart you are forever.”
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