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While researching and writing this story I was forwarded this e-mail from my sister. It had been passed along in a chain mail style, forward to many, many e-mail addresses. Some of you may have already seen it. I thought it was particularly amazing, because no one knew that I was working on this project . . .
A photograph began circulating in November.
In many people's opinions, it should be proclaimed as "The
Photograph of the Year," or perhaps, "The Photograph of the
Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the paper you probably
will never see it.
The photograph is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel
Alexander Armas, who is being
operated on by a surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina
bifida and would not survive if removed from the
mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics
nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure.
Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs
these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.
In the procedure, a C-section removes the uterus and the doctor makes a
small incision to operate on the baby. During the surgery on little Samuel, the
little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and
firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. The photograph captures this amazing event
with perfect clarity. The editors titled the photograph, "Hand of
Hope." The text explaining the
photograph begins, "The tiny hand
You can see the actual photograph, and it is
awesome...incredible. (The original link I had here is gone, but for more information and a larger picture I've replace it with this link: ) |
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