Felipe Birriel
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Felipe Birriel, also known as "El Gigante de Carolina" (The Giant of Carolina) (August 16, 1916-March 15, 1994), born in Carolina, Puerto Rico is considered to have been the tallest Puerto Rican persona, measuring 7'11" (2.413 meters).
Felipe was the son of Pedro and Dionisia Birriel and was the oldest of six siblings. He only attended up to second grade in school. As a child, Felipe was sent to the farm fields where he helped his parents plant vegetable seeds, and he also worked in the fields picking fruits and coffee beans and as a waterboy, delivering water to the sugar cane workers.
In 1932, when Felipe was 16 years old, he started to grow at an alarming rate. One day, he went to visit a doctor because he felt sick with dizzy spells and because he also was feeling weak. The doctor informed Felipe that for some unknown reason, his pituitary gland had developed a tumor. Even though the condition did not have a known cure, it was still treatable.
The treatment required a radio therapy machine which could only be found in the United States. The machine was sent for in 1932 but, it wasn't until 1941, nine years later that it finally arrived in Puerto Rico.
Felipe lived with his brother and sister-in-law in Carolina and became something of a folk hero and became known as "El Gigante de Carolina" (The Giant of Carolina). The Government of Puerto Rico and local businessmen helped him economically, since his daily personal needs could not be met with the money he could earn in personal appearances. The owners of local furniture stores had special furniture made for Felipe. His health however, continued to worsen progressively and he died on March 15, 1994, at the age of 77, in Carolina, Puerto Rico of a heart attack. Nonetheless, Birriel was unique in achieving a relatively old age while being as tall as he was; most extremely tall people tend to experience serious disabling medical conditions such as the ones that eventually crippled, and then killed, Robert Wadlow (the tallest human in the world during his lifetime) at an early age.
Carolina is also known as the "City of the Giants" in honor of Felipe. The BSN basketball team of Carolina is called "Los Gigantes de Carolina' (The Carolina Giants) and the town has dedicated a museum to the memory of Felipe and has also named a street "El Paseo Felipe Birriel".
