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 U.S. paper which published it, you
probably would never have seen it.
The picture is that of a
21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being
operated on by 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. As Dr. Bruner completed the
surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed
hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon’s finger. Dr.
Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was
the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during
the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.
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 “wept for days” when they saw the picture. She
said, “The photo reminds us pregnancy isn’t about disability or an
illness, it’s about a little person” Samuel was born in perfect health,
the operation 100 percent successful. Now see the actual picture, and it
is awesome…incredible….and hey, pass it on! The world needs to see
this one.
UPDATE: I got this from my Aunt who lives in Nashville on facebook and wanted to share this inspiring story. I have been told it’s not 100% real. Either way, it’s still beautiful.
