Niamh Spence
The record for the world's heaviest human ever is still held by the same man nearly 40 years after his death.
American Jon Brower Minnoch still holds the Guinness World Record for being the heaviest human ever, with nobody ever eclipsing his weight.
Suffering from obesity since he was young, Jon's weight was always on the larger side up until his death in 1983 aged 41.
Advert
Even as a child, Jon's weight was big and by the age of 12 he was already weighing 132kg. And at the age of 22, he weighed 178kg (392lb or 28st). Yet, Jon's weight continued to increase.
As the world record holder for the human heaviest ever, Jon's heaviest weight came in at 1,400lbs, equal to 635kg or 100 stone.
Measuring six foot one, Jon suffered with a variety of health problems due to his weight including respiratory and cardiac disorders.
Advert
His condition of edema (swelling caused by excess fluid) was also incurable and difficult to treat.
Needing hospital treatment, Jon was admitted into Seattle University Hospital in 1978 and getting him there was no mean feat.
He needed a dozen firefighters and emergency personnel who had to use a specially modified stretcher to bring him into hospital.
Once there, he was placed on two beds joined together, and it took 13 people to roll him over.
Advert
During his hospital stay, Jon's weight dropped as he followed a restrictive diet of 1,200 calories per day.
In total he lost 419 kilograms and weighed 216 kilograms (476lb or 34st) when he left.
However, he later put on over over 89kg (197lb or 34st) and was readmitted to hospital in 1981.
Advert
He died 23 months later in 1983.
Jon also held another record, this time for the difference in weight for a married couple for himself and his wife Jeannette.
Jeanette weighed just 50 kilograms, making Jon roughly 585 kg (92.12st or 1,289.70lb) heavier than her.
The pair married in 1978 and had two children, before Jon died just five years later.
Advert
Whilst Jon holds the Guinness World Record for the heaviest human ever, there have been others who have come close.
Coming in second is Saudi Arabia's Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari who weighed in at 610kg, and in third is Manuel Uribe from Mexico at 597kg.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]