Did Anderson Shrink? Find Out On Tuesday

Friends in high places... Anderson Cooper surprises America's tallest man with new shoes and a custom wardrobe

By Nina Golgowski

Published: 17:19 EST, 25 May 2012 | Updated: 00:07 EST, 26 May 2012

Being tall doesn't always have its perks as Igor Vovkivinskiy, who's just over 7.5ft tall, told Anderson Cooper this week.

In his own words, it can be rather hard and painful, especially if you don't have the right shoes or clothing.

Sitting down with the talk show host, the 29-year-old native Ukrainian who has been raising money to buy custom-made shoes, at a cost of $16,000, received a surprising push beyond his original goal.


'In the past five years I've had about fifteen surgeries,' he told Anderson while showing off the same pair of shoes, sized 26-10E, he's worn for the past three years.

'What is the difficulty? Why so many surgeries?' Anderson asked.

'As soon as I have a surgery and I begin to heal and start walking I have to wear the same shoes that caused the wounds in the first place. So the wounds keep opening up or forming new ones and it's a vicious circle,' he said.

Earlier this year, he sent letters asking for help from President Obama, Oprah, and Dr. Phil, to name a few, to help him purchase a new pair.


To no avail, he created an online blog asking for donations.

It pulled in $19,800 last March after a local news station in Minnesota, WCCO, broadcast his appeal, earning him his funds needed for a single new pair.

‘Holy Cow We passed $4,500!!! Thank youso much kind people of Minnesota!!’ he wrote toward the beginning of his goal.

After hearing the man's struggle growing up, teased, stared at, and often bound to a wheelchair due to the pain of walking without proper shoes, Anderson revealed his surprise to the man.

'It's important to not just have one pair of shoes but to have multiple pairs of shoes like that for different things. And Igor, again, I think a lot of people just take shoes for granted and never really think about this,' Anderson said before his studio audience.


Seated in the crowd, Dr Saul Goldston of Doctor's Foot Labs stood up to address the man.

'So Igor, my offices are in San Diego, California. We have a business that makes custom orthotics and custom shoes.
'What we would like to present you with is a pair of men's dress shoes, custom made, and a pair of athletic shoes, because we are told you want to be a basketball player,' he said to a beaming reaction from Igor.

'Thank you so much. Thank you so much, that's incredible,' he responded with a huge smile.
His mother, a hospital nurse who had spoken of her trouble and disappointment in her inability to financially provide for a sufficient wardrobe for her son, was also in the crowd, smiling.


'That's probably going to be the first time in fifteen years where I'll have a choice of what to wear because right now winter, summer, fall, whatever, I always just have one pair of shoes,' Igor said.

Wanting to become a paralegal one day as well, with two years' left in school, Anderson chimed in with one more surprise.

'We also decided you should also have some nice suits to go for job interviews, so we wanted to fix that.
'I want to introduce you to Mohan Ramchandani, he is the owner of Mohan's custom tailors, here in New York. So what do you have for Igor?' he asked.


'For Igor, I am going to make $10,000 worth of custom made wardrobe. I'll make him suits, jackets, pants, whatever he likes,' Mr Ramchandani said.

'So for job interviews he'll be set?' Anderson asked.

'Yes,' the tailor replied to a reaction of a larger than (an ordinary) life smile from Igor.

As of Wednesday, Igor's blog reports raising over $45,000 from his online supporters with the latest donation coming in seven days ago.

He announced his plans to order dress shoes, sandals and Reebok's pledge this month to make him the pair of basketball sneakers he originally sought from them, free of cost.

Anderson's complete interview with Igor will air on Tuesday, May 29th.