BIGFOOT FOUND!
Shoe fairies step up to help teen find size 23s!
AHIGH SCHOOL freshman with feet so ginormous he can’t buy offthe-rack shoes is finally getting help for his titanic trotters, which stretch a whopping 17 inches — six inches longer than normal! Big boy Eric Kilburn Jr., 14, is 6-foot-10 and wears a size 23 shoe — which is one size larger than retired NBA giant Shaquille O’Neal.
And because he can never find footwear that fits properly, he often struggles with painful calluses, blisters, bleeding toes and ingrown toenails.
But now several athletic shoe companies, including Puma, have run to Eric’s rescue and agreed to make some larger-sized boats so his family won’t have to spend a budget-busting $1,500 for custom-made orthotic kicks every time he has a growth spurt.
His frantic mom, Rebecca Kilburn, 36, knew she was in for a walk on the wild side from the moment Eric was born. She says the doctor told her right then and there, “This kid has the biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life!”
Although they giggled about it in the delivery room, Rebecca and hubby Eric Sr. aren’t laughing now that their teen’s tootsies keep growing at lightning speed — leading the kid to sustain injuries on the sports field and insults from his classmates in Goodrich, Mich.! “I have spent hours crying, feeling like I’ve failed my child because I’m not able to find what he needs,” says Rebecca, who notes the boy has spent the last five winters in backless Crocs.
In addition to the shoe companies that have agreed to help the boy, bighearted folks have raised over $18,000 so Eric can at last be shod. “It’s restored my faith in humanity!” says his grateful mom.