6ft 2in at 12: The girl everyone looks up to
SHE has been standing out from the crowd since she was a toddler.
But now 12-year-old Sophie Hollins is starting to see the highs of being 6ft 2in.
The girl who holds a Guinness World Record as the tallest preteen on the planet has learned to love her incredible height.
‘ I’ve always known I was different. I’ve been tallest in my class from day one,’ she said.
Sophie’s mother, Lorraine, 44, is 5ft 4in and her father, Ian, also 44, is 5ft 10. The schoolgirl’s extraordinary growth is a result of Marfan syndrome, which she was diagnosed with at just eight months old. The disorder, which in some cases can be life-threatening, affects the body’s connective tissues.
By six, Sophie was already 4ft 10in. By ten she was taller than the average grown man at 5ft 11in.
Without medical help, she could have grown even taller. Two years ago doctors curbed her growth by destroying tissue in her knees and inducing an early puberty.
Now Sophie, from Southampton, is looking to a future of working with animals and hopes her height will stabilise soon. ‘It’s cool to be 6ft 2in but I don’t want to be much taller,’ she said in a newspaper interview. ‘Now my friends are starting to catch up. The last few years have been tough with everything my body has been through. But I’m happy it’s over and I’m excited about becoming a teenager.’
Despite her daughter’s sunny outlook, Mrs Hollins, a dental receptionist, said her future had not always seemed so bright.
‘I always told Sophie people are going to stare. Boys at school called her a giraffe. Luckily, Sophie understands that’s ignorance speaking.’
At 6ft 2in Sophie is still some way off from being the world’s tallest woman. That title goes to Sun Fang of China – who is 7ft 3in.