A dad unexpectedly became one of Britain’s tallest men after he suddenly grew to 7ft 6, while his feet increased by four shoe sizes – a bizarre growth spurt that turned out to be all down to cancer.
Andrew Smith, 60, was previously 6ft 5 and wore size 11 shoes before he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014.
The retired catering manager from Greenwich in south east London had a tumour on his pituitary gland, a small pea-sized gland that has many functions including regulating growth.
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As a result, Smith – a father-of-four, grandfather-of-10 and great-grandfather-of-three – not only shot up to 7ft 6, but also to much larger shoe size of 15.
This sadly meant he found he was unable to enjoy the simple things in life like taking his grandchildren to the park, with his family saying the experience was particularly tough as his personality changed as well.
Now, Smith’s daughters Sarah and Sharon are taking part in a charity challenge to raise money to help others like their father.
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For Wear a Hat Day, they’ll be donning clown hats on London Bridge on 25 March to raise awareness for the Brain Tumour Research Charity, saying they also want to raise as much money as possible for the good cause.
Mum-of-four Sarah, 41, said: “Dad would get very short-tempered and would go from zero to ten within seconds.
“It was like he was a completely different person at times and, because it was on the growth part of his brain, his whole body grew.
“He went to a ridiculous size and looked like a giant. His growth was out of control. He went from a size 11 shoe to a size 15 and from 6ft 5in tall to 7ft 6in.
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“It all happened quite quickly, over about six months. He also gained a lot of weight and there’s talk now that he might be able to have an operation to reduce some of the flab he put on.
“He had his brain tumour removed and was put in an induced coma when he came out of the operation.
“He can’t work now and gets tired very easily but he’s what they call in remission and only has to go for check-ups every now and then.”
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His older daughter Sharon, 47, added: “He became like a green giant when he grew so much.
“Nothing fitted and it became quite upsetting to see him in so much pain. He couldn’t do anything with the grandchildren and that upset him quite a lot.
“Before it happened we would be able to go on days out and to the park but during that time he could not come with us.
“He got so big he could not even move.
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“He is still really, really tall and has quite a big tummy. The tumour gave him diabetes and he became very poorly.
“He is in remission and doctors are keeping their eyes on him.
“I think the Hat Day is a really nice way of raising money for cancer and tumour research. It will be nice to raise money for that.
“We have never done it before and I am looking forward to it. We are all going to get the grandchildren to come along with us and get involved.
“We don’t have a target, we want to raise as much money as we can. The sky is the limit.”
While brain tumours kill more people over the age of 40 than any other cancer, just one percent of cancer research funding is allocated to looking for ways to treat it, according to the charity Brain Tumour Research.
Wear a Hat Day is now in its 13th year, having raised more than £2 million for the charity, with the fundraiser’s pin badges having a regal theme for 2022 to tie in with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Jess Hardiman