Phasakorn Channgam
The world’s shortest man came to Pattaya during Songkran
to help out the world’s tallest teen, a Thai girl whose great height was
caused by a brain tumor that is affecting her vision.
The
long and the short of it: Khagendra Thapa Magar and Malee Duangdee.
Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal visited Ripley’s Believe
It or Not! museum April 12 to raise funds for 19-year-old Malee Duangdee,
who at 208 cm. tall was once the world’s tallest woman and, for a few more
months, is still the tallest teenager on the planet.
Magar, who stands only 67 cm. tall, met guests and handed
out gifts to help raise money for Malee’s medical treatments for the brain
tumor that, at age 9, began pressing on a nerve, leading to the hormone
imbalance that saw her shoot head, shoulders and torso above her parents,
and is causing her to have blurred vision.
Since then, she’s had to undergo quarterly treatments
costing 95,000 baht each. Her family, laborers and farmers in Issan, cannot
afford them. Ripley’s made her one of its honorary ambassadors in an attempt
to help her get the treatment she needs.
Ripley’s General Manager Somporn Naksuetrong said they
recruited Magar - who since being named the smallest man on earth last fall
has traveled the world to raise funds for orphans and battle sex trafficking
- to lend his fame to her cause.
“He has a great heart and knows and understands very well
about people’s suffering,” Somporn said of Magar, who will lose his title in
June to a Filipino 17-year-old who stands only 55 cm. tall. (The Guinness
Book of World Records requires title holders to be at least 18-years-old.)
“Malee has been severely affected by her condition,”
Somporn said. “Her height not only increases each year, but she also is
blind due to the tumor’s pressure on her optic nerve.
Following the fundraiser, Ripley’s opened its Smallest and Tallest
contest open to adults under 120 cm. or over 200 cm. Winners in each
category will receive 10,000 baht and prizes.
