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By Max Sprague
GCC/Staff
Sept. 4, 2010
This 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 US 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 spine 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 Univ Med Ctr 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.
We serve an Awesome God.
Source: Max Sprague
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What an emotional story and picture!!!!! I will repost this as it needs to reach as many as possible!!!!!
Jeff ‘Freebird’ White
Fantastic!
Made my day!
Robert Merrill
Psalm 139:13-15 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Joshua P. Tano
If this don’t grab ya, then your soul is as dark as it gets!!!!!
Jeff ‘Freebird’ White
WOW!
UNBORN BABY GRABS SURGEON AT 21 WEEKS.
I HAD RICKY AT 22 WEEKS!
Sherry Johnson Nutt
We can learn so much from this.
No one can see this photo without getting emotional.
Wow!
What an amazing little miracle.
With our current health care industry, the very best in the world, our doctors can perform amazing miracles like this all the time.
But to see the tiny little hand of a 21 week old baby still in the womb, so beautiful.