An Iowa Baby Defies Odds To Set A World Record

Over the years, various residents of the state of Iowa have amassed quite an impressive number of feats that have landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records, including:

• Shortest bull ever (2018) - 67.6275 centimeters
• Largest clog dance (2010) - More than 2,600
• Fastest mile 'joggling' (jogging and juggling) backward with three objects (male) (2017) - 6 minutes, 45 seconds
• Farthest distance to throw a rolling pin (1979) - 175 feet, 5 inches
• Most straws crack-whipped from the mouth in one minute (2017) - 55
• Longest natural beard locks ever (male) (1927) - 17 feet, 6 inches
• Most sticky notes stuck on the face in one minute (2014) - 60
• Tallest living dog (2024) - over three feet

Those record holders now have company from one of the Haweye State's newest residents.

Defying the Odds

Nash Keen was born July 5, 2024, at just 21 weeks — so early that most hospitals couldn’t deliver him. Still, doctors at the University of Iowa Health Care resituated the baby at birth. They supported him using advanced ultrasound technology to measure the blood supply to his heart and lungs.

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Despite being able to keep him alive initially, doctors told Nash's family that he had a zero percent chance of survival

New Record Holder

That was 13 months ago, and Nash is not only still with us, but he's now a world record holder as the most premature baby (21 weeks), eclipsing the previous record of 21 weeks and one day, set in Alabama in 2020.

Nash's journey has been anything but easy.

13 Months Later

He's endured four surgeries and a seven-month stay in the NICU, but he's been living at home for the past five months, where he still relies on oxygen 24/7 and takes daily medication. But his parents and doctors are optimistic about his future.

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