Sun Ming Ming of China, who plays for the United States Basketball League's (USBL) Dodge City Legend, drives the ball around coach Ken Allen during a workout session in Greensboro, North Carolina, October 6, 2006. At nearly 7 feet 9 inches (2.36 meters) tall and with size 19 feet, Sun dreams of being in the NBA. [File Photo/Reuters]

But what has made him so tall and given him dreams of following his countryman Yao Ming into the U.S. professional ranks was also a threat to his life.

A tumor at the base of his skull was pressing on his pituitary gland and making him grow, and had to be surgically removed last year. Without the surgery, he faced the possibility of heart failure and early death. A tiny piece of tumor remains.

"Yao Ming is the pride of all Chinese people," Sun said from Greensboro, North Carolina, where he is training to improve his speed and agility.

"Could I be like him one day? This is not something that can happen just because I wish it to happen. I need to work hard and even if I work really hard, I don't know if it will ever happen."

Sun arrived in the United States from China in February 2005. Sports agent Charles Bonsignore says he took a risk by taking on the then lead-footed player and agreeing to raise funds for medical bills that already exceed $100,000.

"I said, 'Let's see what we can do and make this guy into an NBA player,'" Bonsignore said from his office in Ventura, California.

Sun was eligible for the 2005 National Basketball Association draft, but wasn't chosen because of his lack of stamina. He landed awkwardly and felt winded often.

Sun's huge feet were covered with corns and welts, his toes were gnarled and an X-Ray showed the bones in his toes were deformed because he didn't have shoes that fit him properly while he was growing up.

Then doctors made a more shocking discovery: a tumor was crushing Sun's pituitary gland and it was secreting excess growth hormone that caused him to grow and grow.

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