"The Hand of Little Samuel" A photo began circulating in November. It should
be titled "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture
of the Decade." 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. As Dr.
Bruner completed 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. In a Time Europe article highlighting new pregnancy
imagery that show the formation of major organs and other significant
evidence of the formation of human life but a few days after conception,
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. Picture of the Decade? |
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