The world’s tallest woman has enjoyed her first-ever trip on an airplane, with the help of flight crews who removed six seats from the plane to accommodate her.
Turkish-born Rumeysa Gelgi, 25, currently lives in California. A professional web developer, she is known as the tallest living woman in the world and has held the Guinness World Records title since 2021 for her height of 7 feet and 0.71 inches.
She uses a wheelchair most of the time and can walk short distances only with the aid of a walker. Thus when planning her first-ever flight on a commercial jet plane, she had to think outside the box.
She told The Epoch Times, “I flew to San Francisco from Istanbul at the end of September. It was my first-ever plane journey, as well as my first time abroad. Because of my height and my spinal condition ... after two hours, I basically need to lay down and take rest because there is so much pressure on my spine.”
The 13-hour flight was a daunting prospect for Gelgi until she started exploring the idea of traveling on a stretcher.
“Even though in business class, chairs can turn into a bed, they are too small for me,” she said. “The stretcher option is usually used for patients in an emergency situation. I was the first person who used this option for touristic reasons.”
She wrote, “I did not have the chance to learn the names of many people who helped me with kindness and devotion for 13 hours in the air ... this was my first flight, but it certainly won’t be the last.”
Turkish Airlines responded to Gelgi’s post, promising, “We are there for you whenever you need it.”
Gelgi was born in 1997 with Weaver syndrome, the first case of its kind in Turkey and the 27th known case worldwide. She told The Epoch Times that the syndrome is caused by a rare genetic mutation but “has no relation to family history ... it’s basically an overgrowth syndrome at first, but also brings some serious physical problems.”
She has been in the public eye for some time owing to her record-breaking stature and has worn her uniqueness as a badge of pride since childhood.
She said: “My parents taught me to constantly see myself as a very unique person, rather than a sick person. All my friends, male and female, told me, ‘You were born with a syndrome but it’s not a sickness that you have to recover from ... that makes you who you are.’ Thanks to this perspective, I’ve never felt miserable or ashamed about my situation. Instead, I’ve always felt the whole situation is a blessing ... I feel like one of a kind.”
Gelgi’s medical journey has been complex. She had open heart surgery at the age of 1, umbilical hernia surgery at the age of 3, and walked for the first time with a walker aged 5, after nine months of physiotherapy. She was then under the observation of the Pediatric Endocrinology Department of Marmara University.
Scoliosis surgeries were able to correct her spinal curvature from 65 to 38 degrees. She does not have any major surgeries or treatments in the pipeline, but attends physiotherapy and swims regularly to strengthen her muscles.
In addition to holding the World’s Tallest Woman Living title from Guinness World Records, she received the World’s Tallest Living Female Teenager title in 2014, and three additional titles in 2022: Largest Hands (female), Longest Finger (female), and Longest Back (female).
Since 2014, she has appeared in the press and on television to raise awareness of Weaver syndrome, and to empower all people living with visible differences.
Gelgi hopes that accomplishing one of her biggest dreams, to fly abroad, has opened the door for more travel opportunities in the future. To anyone struggling with visible differences, she insists that difference is what makes a person special.
“I personally believe a person can turn something negative into something very positive for themselves if they believe, and work hard enough, and that’s what I did for myself,” she said.
