The young boy responded positively to the treatment and quickly began to gain weight.

A child born in the United States four months prematurely has earned a place in the Guinness World Records. Medical professionals in the U.S. successfully saved a baby born at 22 weeks gestation, over four months premature.

Curtis Z. Keith Means, born in July 2020 in Alabama, holds the title of the world’s most premature baby to survive, according to the Guinness World Records website.

The mother, Michelle Butler, initially had an uneventful pregnancy, but on July 4, 2020, she required emergency surgery. She was transferred to the University Medical Center at Birmingham in Alabama, renowned for its neonatology and pediatrics departments.

Despite being born on November 11, Curtis’s gestation period was only 21 weeks and one day, with a birth weight of 420 grams. Specialists believed his chances of survival were less than one percent.

However, the boy responded well to the treatment, and his weight began to increase rapidly.

Professor Brian Sims, recalling the extraordinary situation, stated, “Our neonatal intensive care unit had never encountered such premature babies before. We were truly entering uncharted territory.”

Remaining in the hospital for ten months, the baby was finally able to return home with his parents on April 6, 2021.

A dedicated medical team looked after him throughout the treatment. Michelle Butler expressed her pride, saying, “He is my pride because I remember how he was born, and I witness what he has become now.”

In the Guinness World Records, the boy was recognized as the world’s most premature baby to survive. Interestingly, the previous record holder, Richard Hutchinson from Wisconsin, USA, was born just one month before Means, on June 5, 2020.