Share
Imagine a baby born only 24 weeks into his mother’s normal 40-week pregnancy, weighing only 12.7 ounces. That’s the equivalent of a can of soda.
Tyson Perez was delivered by cesarean section in August 2011 at St. Agnes Medical Center and rushed to Valley Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Nearly eight years later, he remains the smallest surviving “micro-preemie” ever cared for at Valley Children’s.
The girl, known publicly by the name her nurses gave her — “Saybie” — is the world’s smallest baby ever to survive, according to the Tiny Baby Registry maintained by the University of Iowa.
The difference in birth weight between Saybie and Tyson is equivalent to a deck of cards.
In 2015, Valley Children’s celebrated Tyson turning 4. His Fresno family said he enjoyed watching professional wrestling and knew how to use an iPad.
![Tyson Perez](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/16161121/Tyson-1.jpg)
“Some suggested we terminate the baby,” Katie Perez said. “We didn’t want to make that choice.”
Tyson Beat Long Odds of Survival
When the mother’s blood pressure soared and platelet count plummeted, the baby was delivered. Based on national data for preemies, he had about a 10% chance of survival.
Tyson beat the odds. He weighed nine pounds when he left Valley Children’s in March 2012. He parents said in 2015 that though Tyson was little behind in height and weight for his age, he had no significant health issues.
“Tyson is a highly unusual occurrence,” Dr. Jeffrey Pietz, Chief of Newborn Medicine at Valley Children’s, said at the time. “He’s an amazing story.”
In San Diego, Saybie was born 23 weeks and three days into her mother’s 40-week pregnancy. Doctors told her father after the birth that he would have about an hour with his daughter before she died.
“But that hour turned into two hours, which turned into a day, which turned into a week,” the mother said in a video released by Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns.
More than five months have passed, and she has gone home as a healthy infant, weighing 5 pounds.
Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?
2 hours ago
Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans
4 hours ago
Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.
4 hours ago
Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis
5 hours ago
Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players
5 hours ago
What the Republican Party Might Look Like if Trump Loses
6 hours ago
CVS Grant Will Help Make Food Bank Mission About Fresno Jobs as Well as Food
15 mins ago
Categories
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/14143723/Fresno-Mission-City-Center-First-Fruits-Market-tomato-1280X720-1024x576.jpg)
CVS Grant Will Help Make Food Bank Mission About Fresno Jobs as Well as Food
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/14154055/A-former-school-principal-from-Dinuba-faces-murder-charges-after-a-December-2023-DUI-collision-that-killed-a-mother-and-daughter-and-injured-others-the-Tulare-County-DAs-office-announced-Wednesd-1024x538.jpg)
Former Dinuba School Principal Faces Life in Prison for DUI Deaths of Mom, Daughter
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/14140813/IMG_7344-2048x1484-1-1024x576.jpg)
Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/14125622/Apartments-damaged-by-falling-missile-debris-injury-several-people-in-Kursk-Russia-on-Tuesday-Aug.-13-2024.-Ukraine-pressed-ahead-with-its-assault-inside-Russian-territory-on-Tuesday-a-week-1024x538.jpg)
Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans
![](https://gvwire.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/14092611/020924_FAST_FOOD_UNION_JAH_CM_00739.jpg-1024x576.jpg)