IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Anyone who has been around one-year-old Nash Keen knows he’s a happy, talkative, and giggly baby boy. His family and doctors call him a miracle. Born at 133 days premature, Nash now holds Guinness World Record for the most premature baby.

“Nash has a spunky personality, he’s always happy. You rarely see him cry. He’s always got a smile on his face and his smile lights up a room,” said Nash’s mom, Mollie Keen.

While his journey is one of hope and happiness, his parents have been through a tragic loss. Mollie and Randall found out they were pregnant in 2023, but unfortunately lost their daughter that September. Six months later, they found out they were pregnant again - this time with Nash.

At 20 weeks Mollie found out she was already two centimeters dilated. According to doctors, this can be a sign of preterm labor. Their hope was that he wouldn’t be born too early.

“And so we were kind of just like back in that scary situation where we didn’t know what the outcome was going to be; were we going to lose this one too?” said Mollie.

From there, they went to the staff at University of Iowa HealthCare, miraculously they were able to help guide Mollie on this journey.

“I vividly remember the conversation with the parents when I told them his chance of survival is 0%. When you’ve never had anyone survive at 21 weeks, that’s what the data says at that gestational age,” said Dr. Patrick McNamara.

On July 5th, 2024- at 21 weeks - Nash was born.

Dr. Amy Stanford was there when he was delivered and ran his resuscitation.

“When babies are born at 21 weeks, we’re not sure if they’re going to be strong enough or big enough for our tiniest equipment to be able to do what it needs to do,” said Dr. Amy Stanford.

But Nash was - even though he weighed less than a can of pop.

That whole time his family and doctors never lost hope.

With the help of a specialized medical team, he reached milestone after milestone.

“It’s so rewarding now to see him. You would have no idea when you look at him that he is the world’s most premature baby,” said Dr. Stanford. “We’re immensely proud of Nash, we could not be prouder of him. He is truly a miracle.”

Celebrating his first birthday was something unimaginable a year ago. He’s not only a world record holder, but the biggest gift to his loved ones.

“But I’m thankful that we are because that means he’s here with us. That’s why we’re so proud of the record,” said Nash’s dad, Randall.

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