A child named Nash was born over 4 months earlier than he should have been, leaving his parents concerned that he wouldn’t be able to survive. However, thanks to a phenomenal group of doctors and a great deal of perseverance from Nash himself, he’s now celebrating his first birthday.
Thanks to modern advancements in medical science, something like an extremely premature birth that would have been a death knell at almost every point in human history, can now be recovered from.
Nash was born at 21 weeks, 133 days before the projected due date for the child. He had to be resuscitated by doctors when he came out and immediately taken to intensive care.
However, after a year of hard work, he’s in a much more stable state and was able to celebrate his first birthday and snag a Guinness World Record.
Nash sets record for most premature birth ever
In order to set the record, Nash had to make it to his first birthday. While doctors have the means to keep a child alive for an extended period of time due to birth complications like this, that child gaining independence and growing on their own is an entirely different story.
Getting Nash on the right track to grow after such a premature birth took weeks of effort from doctors.
“Caring for a baby born at 21 weeks is very different from typical premature cases. Babies born this early require highly specialized care, constant surveillance and frequent monitoring – every hour can make a difference,” Doctor Amy Standford told Guinness.
It took 6 months of care for Nash to be able to leave the hospital, but he was released with some caveats. He needs oxygen and still requires a feeding tube to make sure he’s got enough nutrition to grow. Additionally, Nash has some hearing loss as a result of complications with the birth.
That said, he’s on track to live a healthy life, with doctors having full faith in his ability to persevere.
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