A man suffering from X-linked spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda, a form of dwarfism, never let his condition stop him from pursuing his dreams.
That’s why despite his small stature, he went on and bagged a bodybuilding title. Watch his inspiring story here:
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Video credit: Rumble
The man’s name is Choon Tan, 25, from London, and the type of dwarfism he suffers from affects about one in 150,000 people. But neither Choon nor his family was aware of his condition until he reached his early teens.
Choon said: “I learned that I have this condition when I was about 12 or 13 years old.
“My mum first noticed that everyone else was growing a lot taller than me, so she took me to the doctors, they did all the blood tests, all the x-rays and then they diagnosed me with the condition.”
This led a lot of people to mistake Choon to be younger than he actually was.
Choon said: “I actually had a guy on his bicycle screaming at me ‘Young man, what are you doing out at this time of night?’, I turned around to look at him and he said ‘Oh, I’m so sorry!’.”
His small stature also made Choon a target for bullying at school. His self-confidence was affected and he became very insecure.
“It made me quite depressed at the time because I didn’t have that confidence,” he said.
“I just didn’t know what I was going to do with my life, I thought what’s the point of being alive?”
But that all changed once Choon entered college. He wanted to make the most out of the fresh start that was provided to him.
“I started working out, going to the gym, training five times a week,” he said.
And it totally changed the direction of his life. A professional bodybuilder spotted him and offered to become his coach so that he could enter into competitions.
Choon won a trophy at his very first competition, for his conditioning, and that started him off on his love for professional bodybuilding.
Choon said: “Bodybuilding helped me in my self-confidence because it showed me that I couldn’t change my height, but I could change the way I look, I could change my confidence and how I express myself to people.”
Choon was officially bestowed with the title of the UK’s Shortest Bodybuilder in 2015, something he’s proud to be called.
The confidence Choon gained from bodybuilding spilled over to other parts of his life as well because he’s now pursuing a career in performing and acting.
He now has an Instagram account where he seeks to inspire those who may be dealing with their own insecurities.
Choon added: “I think my message for anyone who wants to get into fitness is to just take that first step and start doing it.
“Because you will have amazing changes in your life, and it changed my life.”
Replaced!