Curtis Mins was born 19 weeks premature. The most premature baby in history has been officially registered in the US state of Alabama. Curtis Mins was born last year at a gestational age of 21 weeks and 1 day, weighing 420 grams. The boy has been around for a year and four months, but the record about him just appeared in the Guinness Book of Records. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, but Curtis and his sister Kasia were born almost halfway through the normal term. The children were placed in intensive care, but the girl died one day after birth. Doctors gave Curtis less than a 1% chance of survival. What happened next is considered a miracle even by medical professionals.
Kurtis with his mother Michelle Butler and doctor Brian Sims, who have been observing him since his birth. Three months later, the boy was taken off the ventilator, and in April of this year, he was discharged from the hospital, where he spent 275 days. According to the doctors, a lot of work was done during this time, to the point that a child who had been fed through a tube for almost a year had to be taught to chew and swallow independently. “Being able to bring Curtis home, where my older children were waiting for him, is the most memorable moment of my life,” said Michelle Butler, the boy’s mother. Curtis still requires oxygen support and a feeding tube, but overall doctors are optimistic about his health.
This is what Curtis looks like today. Curtis is just 24 hours shy of the previous record for a premature infant to survive. One month before Curtis, Richard Hutchinson was born in Wisconsin at a gestational age of 21 weeks and 2 days.
Curtis’ record is now officially in the Guinness Book of World Records. Prior to that, the record stood unbeaten for 34 years after a baby was born in Canada at 21 weeks and 5 days.