A picture began circulating in November. It should be
"The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the
Decade."
It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a
copy of the paper, you probably will never see it.
The picture 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 his 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.
During the procedure, the doctor
removes the uterus via C-section and 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 picture, "Hand of Hope."
The text
explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of
21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from
the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph
Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of
life."
Little Samuel's mother said they "We wept for
days" when they saw the picture. She said,
"The photo
reminds us my pregnancy isn't about disability or an
illness, it's about a little person."
"The Hand" of
the fetus.
You can see the actual picture, and it is
awesome ... incredible.
And hey, pass it on.
The world
needs to see this one!
Do you have any story, thoughts or jokes to share? e-Mail them to Sawa Emas today.
Click here to e-mail [email protected] today.