A 7ft 8in tall man so embarrassed by his height he hid at home for 'half his life' has found love with a woman three feet smaller than him.

　　身高7英尺8英寸(约2.33米)的他曾因为身高问题拒出家门，最近却在身高与他相差81厘米的她身上找到了人生幸福。

　　Joelison Fernandes da Silva, 28, developed gigantism as a child and his rapidly soaring height forced him to drop out of school due to bullying and then refuse to leave the family house for years.

　　今年28岁的乔尔森·费尔南德斯·德·席尔瓦自幼患有巨人症，疯长的身高让他在学校备受欺凌，他因此辍学并多年呆在家中不愿出门。

　　But true happiness eventually found the shy Brazilian - who has come to be known as 'the gentle giant' - in the form of Evem Medeiros, a 5ft 21-year-old woman he met online.

　　然而这位28岁的“温柔巨人”，最终在通过网络结识的身高5英尺(1.52米)的21岁的伊梅·梅代罗斯身上找寻到了真正的幸福。

　　'The first time I saw her it was love at first sight,' Joelison said. 'I was charmed by her. I wanted to be with her all the time. It didn't matter about her size.'

　　乔尔森说：“当我第一次见到她的时候，我就被她的魅力所吸引，我想和她永远在一起，她的身高并不重要。”

　　Joelison grew up in a small rural village in Paraiba, northern Brazil and was bullied from a young age due to his height.

　　乔尔森在巴西北部帕拉伊巴的一个小山村中长大，从很小的时候就因为身高而被人欺负。

　　He got in trouble for fighting his tormentors and later decided to quit school altogether, much to the disappointment of his mother Ivanilde Fernandes da Silva, 45.

　　因为这个他决定辍学，这让他的母亲很失望。

　　She said: 'From a young age I knew there was something not quite right with Joelison.

　　乔尔森的母亲说：“他小的时候我就觉得他跟别人不太一样。”

　　'When he was a baby and only a few months old the baby shoes stopped fitting his feet properly and I'd always have to go and buy more and more.

　　“他还是几个月的小婴儿时，脚就长得很快，我得经常去给他买新鞋子。”

　　Joelison's mother added: 'When he got to eight years old I knew he was growing at anabnormal rate and by the time he was 14 he was already 6ft 4in.

　　她还说：“乔尔森8岁的时候我感觉到他正在以不正常的速度长高，14岁的时候他已经6英尺4英寸(约1.92米)了。”

　　'We lived in the rural zone and nobody knew him. For half of his life he had been hidden away. If anyone came to our house he was so shy he would hide so they wouldn’t see him.

　　“我们住在远郊，没人认识他。他生活的大部分时间都在家里，如果有人来，他会因为害羞而躲起来不见人。”

　　'I was really worried.'

　　“我非常担心。”

　　Doctors later discovered he had a benign tumour on his pituitary gland that was causing his body to produce uncontrolled amounts of growth hormone.

　　后来医生发现乔尔森的下垂体上的一个良性肿瘤导致身体分泌了过多的生长激素。

　　The successful operation helped slow his growth but he still sprouted another four inches to his current height of 7ft 8in.

　　手术成功摘除肿瘤后，乔尔森的身高基本得到了控制，维持在了现在的7英尺8英寸(2.33米)。