Guinness World Records via YouTube

Alabama Premature Baby Overcomes 1% Survival Odds To Break Guinness World Record

One premature baby born in Alabama has recently been warming hearts across the internet after he was awarded with a Guinness World Record.

Curtis Zy-Keith Means was born back in July 2020, this young baby has already been making his way into the history books as he is now the world's most premature baby.

Curtis Means was born after just 21 weeks in his mother's womb.

Curtis' initial due date had been on the 11th November 2020. However, Michelle 'Chelly' Butler was rushed into their nearby hospital on the 4th July 2020 in need of emergency surgery.

Following the surgery, Curtis was born in the early hours of July 5th.

Having been born just under 19 weeks premature, it was a very stressful period for Curtis' family.

Unsplash | Marcelo Leal

When he was born, Curtis weighed a meagre 420g.

"The medical staff told me that they don’t normally keep babies at that age," Curtis' motehr told Guinness World Records in an interview.

However, Curtis responded amazingly well to the medical staff's treatment.

Curtis required 24/7 monitoring and care for many months that followed his birth.

Sadly, Curtis' twin sister who was also born at 21 weeks did not respond as well to treatment, meaning that she tragically passed just a day after having been born.

Having celebrated his first birthday, Curtis has been awarded with the Guinness World Record for the most premature baby to have survived.

"Survival at this gestational age has never happened before [...] So before Curtis was born, his chances of survival would have been less than 1%," explained Dr. Colm Travers in an interview with Guinness.

The fact that Curtis has managed to achieve this milestone is nothing short of a miracle, but to hear that he is happily spending time with the rest of the family is the best kind of news!

h/t: Guinness World Records

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