ABOVE WATCH: A New Brunswick woman has made it into the record books, and as Global’s Shelley Steeves reports, what she lacks in size she certainly makes up for in heart.
SAINT-LOUIS, N.B. – According to the Guinness Book of World Records, New Brunswick’s Marie-Louise Hébert is the oldest person in the world living with dwarfism.
At only 113.4 centimetres tall, or 3.72 feet, Hébert made it into the record books in January.
“She was supposed to pass away at 40 and she is 86 and it’s incredible,” said her neice Anne-Marie Robichaud. “We are looking at her and she wasn’t supposed to live this long.”
“Everybody has been calling, the phone has been ringing off the hook!”
The entire community where she grew up near Saint-Louis is rallying around her.
“Well, she is pretty special because everybody knows her and she has an impact on everybody that see her they come to talk to her,” said Gisele Bastarache of Le Phare Community Services.
Friends and neighbours are trying to discover the secret to her longevity. Robichaud says it could be living a simple, stress-free life.
That’s because Marie-Louise has the playful mind of a seven-year-old.
“She’s happy. She loves colouring and she plays with her dolls,” she said.
Marie-Louise spends most of her time doing exactly what she loves. It’s gotten her through some tough times. She struggles to communicate and her health isn’t perfect.
But she continues to defy the odds.
Marie-Louise turns 86 years old on Aug. 10, but the community wanted to celebrate early. Her birthday celebration is schedule for July 26.
“The doctors said she wouldn’t live but she proved them wrong.”
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