Monday 09/17/12

Human Interest News   —   Posted on September 17, 2012

Great Dane from Michigan is world’s tallest dog

A Great Dane from Michigan is doggone tall. The Guinness World Records 2013 book published Thursday recognizes Zeus of Otsego, Mich., as the world’s Tallest Dog. The 3-year-old measures 44 inches from foot to shoulder. Zeus weighs 155 pounds and eats a 30-pound bag of food every two weeks. Zeus is just an inch taller than the previous record-holder, Giant George.

Standing on his hind legs, Zeus stretches to 7-foot-4 and towers over his owners, Kevin and Denise Doorlag. Denise says she is regularly stopped in the street when she takes him out for a walk. “The most common thing people ask is: ‘Is that a dog or a horse?’ and ‘Where’s his saddle?’,” Ms Doorlag said.

“The only downside is that everything costs more, the food, medicines, transport. We had to get a van to be able to transport him. Oh, and if he steps on your foot he leaves bruises.”

Here’s a perfect example of parents’ love for their child.

A German boy with cystic fibrosis got the first double-lung transplant in Germany’s history when his mom and dad both donated one of theirs.

“The transplant was his last chance,” said Dr Gregor Warnecke, supervising doctor. The hospital would not have operated on his parents if it had not been absolutely necessary.

Marius was extremely lucky that not one but both of his parents had compatible blood groups – and their lungs were bigger than his, another precondition for a successful transplant.

“We are happy and thankful that we and the doctors were able to help Marius.”

He and Marius’ mother Anja had no doubts about each donating a lung to save their boy. “It was immediately clear,” she said.

Surgeons at the Hannover Medical University (MHH) performed a triple operation, using three operating rooms in parallel, with a lung being removed from each parent, and then implanted into Marius.

“The operations went well, the parents were able to leave hospital after ten days,” said Warnecke. Marius’ operation lasted six hours.

“The transplantation worked well with Marius. We were able to remove the tubes from him two days after the operation,” said Warnecke.

Marius was released from hospital after 155 days. And although his quality of life has improved enormously – he can play football and ride his bike – his immune system is still weak and he is not yet able to go to school.

He must take a series of drugs – and his cystic fibrosis has not gone, meaning there remains a chance that his new lungs could also be affected.

Cystic fibrosis is an incurable genetic condition which means the body produces mucus that is thicker than normal, and which gradually fills the lungs, reducing and eventually stopping the sufferer’s ability to breathe.

 Man shows off Guinness’ tallest mohawk in NYC park

Guinness World Records is calling it the tallest mohawk in the world.

A fashion designer from Tokyo showed off his 3-foot-8.6-inch hairdo in a New York City park on Wednesday.

Forty-year-old Kazuhiro Watanabe (kah-zoo-HEE’-roh wah-tah-NAH’-bee) says he’s been growing the hair for 15 years. He says to make it stand upright it takes stylists two hours, one can of gel and three cans of hairspray. He says he wanted to grow the mohawk to rebel against the conformity of Japanese society.

Watanabe has held the title since January 2011.

His appearance in Washington Square Park was to promote the newest version of the Guinness World Records book, which for the first time includes him.

 

 

From The Boston Herald, Germany’s newspaper “The Local” and The Sydney Morning Herald.