Nash Keen was born in Iowa 133 days early, weighing just 10 ounces.
Babies like Nash fight for their lives in NICUs across America, and one Kansas grandfather shows up to hold them.
A neonatologist says the monitors change when Terry Berggren picks those babies up.
NICU Grandpa Terry Berggren Has Held More Than 540 Premature Babies
Terry Berggren walks into the neonatal intensive care unit at Overland Park Regional Medical Center with one job – hold the babies whose parents cannot be there.
He volunteers in the hospital's Warm Arms program, and the NICU nurses call him "Grandpa Terry."
By his own count, he has held more than 540 premature babies.
The hospital honored him with its Humanitarian Award.
Berggren signed up because his family once lived through a NICU stay of its own.
Every parent who has been there knows what it feels like to go home at night and leave a tiny baby behind.
Volunteers like Berggren hold, rock, swaddle, read and sing to babies who are sometimes fighting for their lives.
Berggren told KSHB 41 the unit gives him a feeling of calm.
Asked about the award, he said he wants to be remembered as "the kind guy that can just take care of a kid."
What a Neonatologist Sees When a Volunteer Baby Cuddler Holds a Preemie
Dr. Robert Holcomb, a neonatologist at the hospital, says the difference shows up in the numbers.
"We see changes in the babies when they actually have human touch," Holcomb told KSHB 41.
He said human touch can steady a preemie's vital signs and lower how much oxygen the baby needs.
Live Action points to hundreds of studies showing held preemies sleep better, stay warmer, breathe easier and even put on weight.
In October, Overland Park Regional brought former NICU families and staff back together for a reunion.
Holcomb said those families still remember the man who held their baby when things were at their worst.
Medicine is not only machines and monitors.
Sometimes it is a grandfather's arms.
Atlanta's ICU Grandpa Held NICU Babies Long Before Terry Berggren
Berggren is not the first grandfather to answer this call.
David Deutchman, Atlanta's beloved "ICU Grandpa," cuddled babies at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for 14 years after retiring.
In 2020, as he battled pancreatic cancer at 86, hospital staff held a drive-by parade at his home to thank him.
Deutchman described the work as "very peaceful" and "very rewarding."
Neither man ever asked how early a baby was born before deciding it was worth holding.
Most Premature Baby Nash Keen Survived at 21 Weeks While Colorado Allows Late-Term Abortion
Nash Keen's parents, Mollie and Randall Keen, lost their daughter McKinley at 18 weeks in 2023.
Mollie went into preterm labor with Nash at 20 weeks, and when he arrived at 21, doctors at University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital gave him a fighting chance.
He spent 189 days in the NICU and now holds the Guinness World Record as the most premature baby ever to survive.
"But above all, it feels like a victory," Mollie Keen said.
A January 2026 column in The Blaze pointed out that 29 states and Washington, D.C. would have allowed his abortion at that age and beyond.
Colorado goes further than any of them.
In April 2022, Gov. Jared Polis signed a law declaring that an unborn child has no "independent or derivative rights" in Colorado.
Colorado women can legally abort at any point in pregnancy, the Washington Examiner reported.
In Overland Park, a baby born months early gets a grandfather's arms and a doctor watching her vital signs steady.
In Denver, a baby the same age still in the womb has no protection under the law.
Terry Berggren's 540 Babies Are a Call for Grandparents to Become Baby Cuddlers
Terry Berggren did not need a law degree, a pulpit or a political office to defend life.
He needed two arms and the willingness to show up.
Hospitals across the country run baby cuddler programs, and adults can apply to volunteer.
Call your local hospital's volunteer office and ask whether its NICU has a cuddler program.
If you are a grandparent, you already have what these babies need most – time, patience and decades of practice holding little ones.
Jared Polis should spend one afternoon in a NICU holding a 21-week preemie, then explain why that same child has no protection in Colorado before birth.
Sources:
- Isabella Childs, "NICU Volunteer 'Grandpa Terry' Awarded for Holding Over 540 Preemies," Live Action, October 2026.
- Olivia Acree, "'Just Hold, Nurture and Comfort': OP Regional NICU Volunteer Earns Award for Holding More Than 540 Babies," KSHB 41, October 12, 2026.
- Melanie Wilcox, "World's Most Premature Baby Born at 21 Weeks Celebrates His First Birthday," LifeNews, July 24, 2025.
- Fox 13, "'NICU Grandpa' David Deutchman, Who Cuddled Newborns, Dies After Battle With Cancer," Fox 13 Tampa Bay, November 18, 2020.
- The Blaze, "Nash Keen's Life Proves Unborn Deserve Law's Protection," The Blaze, January 23, 2026.
- Tyler O'Neil, "Colorado Gov. Polis Signs Bill Creating 'Fundamental Right' to Abortion; Denying Any Right for the Unborn," Fox News, April 5, 2022.
- Cassidy Morrison, "New Colorado Law Solidifies Abortion Access Throughout Pregnancy – What to Know," Washington Examiner, April 5, 2022.
