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An Iowa household just lately celebrated a significant milestone for a really particular child.
Mollie and Randall Eager welcomed their son, Nash Eager, on July 5, 2024. He was born 133 days early, at simply 21 weeks gestation.
Guinness World Data has formally acknowledged Nash because the world’s most premature baby to outlive.
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Earlier this month, Nash — affectionately nicknamed “Nash Potato” — turned 1 yr previous, defying all odds.
When he was born on the College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital, Nash weighed simply 285 grams (10 ounces) at beginning — lower than a grapefruit — and measured 24 centimeters lengthy, based on a press launch from the hospital.
Nash Eager is pictured at 1 month previous along with his mom, Mollie Eager. He was born 133 days early, at simply 21 weeks gestation. (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
Two years earlier than Nash’s untimely beginning, the Keens misplaced a child lady, McKinley, at 18 weeks gestation.
At the moment, Mollie Eager was recognized with an incompetent cervix, which is when the decrease a part of the cervix begins to open (dilate) too early, usually within the second trimester, the discharge shared.
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She additionally suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal dysfunction that may trigger fertility difficulties.
Six months after their loss, the Keens came upon one other child was on the way in which.
Nash Eager is pictured at 2 weeks previous (left) and at 11 months previous (proper). (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
“Once we went to our native physician’s workplace for the 20-week scan for Nash, I simply had some considerations about how I used to be feeling, so I requested them to take a look at me nearer — which they usually don’t do at that appointment — they usually discovered I used to be already 2 centimeters dilated,” Mollie Eager mentioned.
Just a few days later, she started having contractions and was positioned on mattress relaxation.
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“We had been devastated,” she mentioned. “We thought we had been going by means of the very same factor — we thought we had been going to lose this child.”
The medical staff at Stead Household Kids’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) gives life-saving take care of infants born at 21 weeks gestation and later.
Nash Eager is pictured at 3 weeks (left) and at 14 weeks (proper). The medical staff at Stead Household Kids’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) gives life-saving take care of infants born at 21 weeks gestation and later. (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
Thankfully, Mollie’s care staff was in a position to delay labor till simply 10 hours after Nash surpassed the 21-week mark.
“We would like what’s greatest for sufferers, so we actually attempt to convey that we have no idea what the outcomes shall be for these extraordinarily untimely births,” mentioned Malinda Schaefer, M.D., Ph.D., the high-risk obstetrician who delivered Nash.
Nash Eager is pictured at 4 weeks previous along with his mom, Mollie Eager (left) and at 7 weeks previous (proper). (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
“It is vital for fogeys to know most survival rates are low, and if infants do survive, they’ve a really excessive danger of long-term issues, even at 22 weeks.”
The staff rapidly supplied medication to Nash to assist his organ growth and to cut back the chance of issues, based on the discharge.
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“Typically infants born at 21 weeks are simply too small for even our tiniest respiration tubes and intravenous traces,” mentioned neonatologist Amy Stanford, who handled Nash. “Our NICU staff assessed Nash, and I used to be in a position to place a breathing tube. As soon as we had the respiration tube in, his coronary heart charge stabilized and his oxygen ranges had been good.”
Even so, Nash’s possibilities had been slim, as no child that younger had ever survived.
Earlier than Nash’s beginning, probably the most untimely child to outlive was Curtis Zy-Keith Means, born to Michelle Butler on July 5, 2020, on the College of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, based on Guinness World Data. He was born at a gestational age of 21 weeks and 1 day, which was 132 days untimely.
Nash Eager is pictured along with his dad and mom, Mollie and Randall Eager, at College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital on June 4, 2025. Nash was born in July 2024 because the earliest child ever born at 21 weeks, 0 days gestation. (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
“We by no means need the dad and mom to lose hope, however a lot of them are in an unreal state of affairs, so we’ve got to be very sincere with them,” mentioned Patrick McNamara, M.D., division director of neonatology at Stead Household Kids’s Hospital.
“I’d have instructed his dad and mom, ‘The possibility is zero, however I hope I am improper, and we’ll do every part we will to assist him.’”
“I need him to see his story as a supply of energy.”
Across the one-month mark, Stanford mentioned, the staff started to “breathe just a little simpler.”
“Whereas we knew Nash nonetheless had a protracted journey forward, that was the purpose after we began to really feel extra assured that he had an actual likelihood of going residence.”
“It was a delicate however highly effective shift – from day-to-day survival to long-term hope.”
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Nash acquired ongoing care throughout his 198 days within the hospital, because the staff monitored his coronary heart operate and brain health.
Along with receiving many medicines, he additionally underwent surgical procedure for a perforated bowel, which has as much as a 40% mortality charge.
After greater than six months within the hospital, Nash Eager was lastly launched from the NICU in January 2025. He has survived with very minimal issues and is residence and thriving. (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
“They had been on high of it each step of the way in which. They actually gave him a combating likelihood,” mentioned Randall Eager. “They had been actually sincere with us throughout the entire journey about what his possibilities appeared like. They made positive we had been well-informed and saved us concerned in all of the decision-making.”
After greater than six months within the hospital, Nash was lastly in a position to go residence in January 2025.
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He’ll proceed to be monitored for ongoing well being points, together with a minor heart defect, and is at the moment being weaned from oxygen. Nash continues to be on a feeding tube and wears listening to aids.
Though he has had some developmental delays, Nash is getting stronger and extra interactive with the assistance of ongoing remedy periods, based on his mom.
Claire Goeke DNP, a nurse practitioner within the NICU followup clinic, evaluates Nash Eager at College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital Pediatric Specialty Clinic on June 4, 2025. (College of Iowa Well being Care Stead Household Kids’s Hospital)
Stanford shared her final purpose for Nash — “that by the point he is 5 years previous when he goes to kindergarten, nobody will know that he was born so early.”
“Nash’s exceptional final result displays the progress we’ve made by constructing on the experiences of these sufferers who got here earlier than him,” she added.
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Mollie Eager shared that she desires Nash to understand how cherished he’s — and “how many individuals have cheered him on from the very starting.”
“I need him to develop up and be wholesome, completely happy and assured in who he’s. I need him to see his story as a supply of energy.”