My growing pains, by the 7ft 4in teenager
Above it all: Chris Lister with his 5ft 4ins mother Anita
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From the moment her son was born, Chris Lister's mother knew he would stand out from the crowd.
Doctors on the maternity ward predicted her baby would easily outgrow his mother, who stands 5ft 4ins tall.
But she never expected him to turn into such a towering teenager.
The 19-year-old is now 7ft 4in tall, has size 17 feet – and he's still growing. Such stature does not come without its problems.
Plagued by regular cramp-like pains, Chris has had two major operations and hundreds of check-ups in an attempt to slow his astonishing growth.
Last night his mother, Anita, 45, recalled the day Chris was born. Despite weighing only 7lb 1oz, he measured nearly two feet long.
"I was amazed when the doctor came round, picked his foot up and said, 'Oh my God'. I said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong?' He replied, 'I've never seen feet like this on a baby'.
"When he was six months old another doctor said, 'He's going to be a sevenfooter'."
Always a big child, Mrs Lister found it hard to explain why her toddler son, who looked four, was still in a pushchair.
"When he started reception class at school there was a playground for infants and one for juniors and he was told he was in the wrong one," she said.
At 11, when he was approaching 6ft, the Leeds schoolboy had surgery to remove growth plates at his ankle.
In most children, growth plates fuse with bone, signalling the end to growth.
But at 15, Chris's legs were still growing so he had to have a further operation.
In the same procedure, he had a screw inserted into his right hip and a plate in his pelvis to stop his foot turning the wrong way.
He had to spend four weeks in hospital with both legs in plaster,then another eight weeks at home. If he had not had the surgery, he could be 8ft tall by now.
A battery of tests have failed to pinpoint why Chris has grown at such an extraordinary rate.
Because of his height, Chris was teased as a child and now rarely visits the pub like other young adults.
"If he goes out everyone just turns around and looks at him," said Mrs Lister, who is separated from her 6ft 2ins husband David.
"It's like being in a zoo – he's a walking target."
His mother has spent £20,000, helped by grants, adapting their semi-detached home, raising doorways and ceilings and installing an extra large shower and 7ft 5in bed.
Chris's growing pains have also played havoc with his job prospects.
"I wanted to be a mechanic when I was in school, passed all my exams for it with flying colours and I did work experience in a garage for two weeks, but my body just wasn't up to it," he said.
"To me I'm normal and everyone else is different. I am like everyone else, I'm just tall."
In an ITV documentary on tall teenagers, Chris discovers he may be able to make a career from modelling.
With his chiselled features and dark eyes, he has now signed with an agency for models with unusual features. "I'd like to cash in on my height because nothing else has come of it apart from aggro," he said.
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My growing pains, by the 7ft 4in teenager
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