of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In
fact, unlessyou obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, 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,
isan obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable
surgicalprocedure. Practicing at VanderbiltUniversityMedicalCenter 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 little Samuel, the little guy
reachedhis tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and firmly
grasped the surgeon's finger.
In a Time Europe article highlighting newpregnancyimagery that show the
formation of major organs and othersignificantevidence of the formation of human life but a few days afterconception,Dr.Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, itwas themost emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant duringtheprocedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.
The photographcaptures 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
thegift of life."Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they
sawthepicture. She said, "The photo reminds us that pregnancy isn't about
disability or an illness, it's about a little person." Samuel was
born inperfecthealth, the operation 100 per cent successful. Now, see the actual
picture,and it is awesome...incredible. And hey, pass it on. The world needs
to see this one!
