Zech DeVits

Zech DeVits had an unknown form of skeletal dysplasia - a term for abnormal bone and cartilage growth - that doctors believe he shared with only two other people in the world, said Debbie Provenzano, his mother. Provenzano, who is 5-foot-8, gave birth to her son through emergency Caesarean section in 1982. Three weeks early, DeVits weighed more than 14 pounds. He stood nearly 7 feet tall before he reached puberty. When he was 10, doctors began giving him testosterone shots to accelerate and eventually stop his growth, fearing what would happen if he continued growing through his teens and into his 20s.

He suffered frequent broken legs - first as a newborn, when his mother lifted his leg during a diaper-changing. And he had about 10 surgeries over the years, including several where doctors inserted rods in his back and neck to correct a crooked spine. Although he needed a wheelchair by the time he was 6, he never let that stop him from playing basketball or Little League.

He died on 20 April 2005.