A Celebrity Couple Gives Their Son Hormone Injections to Help Him Grow Up Faster (4 photos)

The boy, according to celebrities, has not grown in the last two years, so now he is given growth-promoting injections.





The wife of Chinese Olympic boxing champion Zou Shiming and the boxer himself, who are very popular in China, have sparked a heated debate about hormone therapy after they started giving growth-promoting injections to their teenage son, who seemed to have remained the same height for two years.

Zou's wife, Ran Yingying, a former TV host and now an online blogger, said in mid-December that she and her husband had been worried about one of their sons, nicknamed Haohao, for two years.

This prompted them to take him to the hospital for hormone therapy to make him taller.



Haohao, 11, is only 136.6 cm tall, about 30 cm shorter than his brother, who is two years older. So his parents, who are 162 cm tall, decided that he needed hormone injections.

His mother studied studies and surveys on boys' heights and tried various possible solutions to stimulate his growth.

One day, she sent the boy to play basketball. But while other boys grew, Haohao's height remained the same.

Earlier this month, Ran took Haohao to a Shanghai hospital, where doctors told her it was "necessary" to inject him with growth hormone or he would miss his "best opportunity" to grow.

A single injection of the drug in China costs between 200 and 2,000 yuan (US$27 to US$275), depending on the brand and the volume required, depending on the child's weight.

Ran said they were hesitant to adopt the method because it would mean Haohao would have to take daily injections and he might develop an inferiority complex.

"But Haohao is very optimistic. He said he is not afraid of the injection. He said many athletes have undergone hormone treatment. He said that maybe one day he will become an athlete like his father," Ran said in an online video clip.





Ran added that her hands were shaking when she got the first injection, but her son reassured her that it was not painful.

The mother said she was well aware that the treatment could affect each child differently.

Zou, 43, won gold medals in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. He and Ran, 40, married in 2010.

Ran's video has trended on social media in mainland China, with 20,000 comments.

"Don't worry too much. Some children grow up early, and some grow up late," said one online commentator. Others suggested that the parents were unnecessarily panicking, as the child was still too young and could still grow.

However, another commentator noted that the parents were doing the right thing, as many people feel inferior because of their short stature.