Posted on 04/15/2006 6:27:25 AM PDT by DollyCali
Edited on 04/15/2006 6:42:22 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
This is just unbeleivable! Please read before viewing picture - it's worth it! 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 US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it. 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! What a wonderful Easter Story of HOPE & NEW LIFE -- my God is an awesome God!!!!!PICTURE OF THE YEAR (Maybe?)
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.

No matter...it puts to rest the claims of most abortionists about the fetus being nothing more than a "mass of tissue". What abortion is, is the brutal, horrific killing of innocent life like this...murder.
Need tissues!!!! That picture is wonderful, beautiful beyond words. Just amazing.
Thank you!
Goose bumps, just breathtaking.
So AWESOME!
Praise God!
GREAT PICTURE!
I remember the story well.
The baby was born Dec. 2, 1999.
I did a quick search, but haven't found a recent update.
The last I read, he was nearly 3 and learning to walk.
Awesome!
Oh my.. talk about "old" /new news! thanks for the update.. makes it even a more potent story.
From October of 2003: An Update on Samuel Armas "The Hand of Hope"

Samuel at play (from a summer 2003 Newsweek article)
thank you for these wonderful pix & further update/link
smooch!
Isn't this the picture that led to Drudge being released from Fox? He wanted to show it on his program, and they nixed it.
Did you catch the thread a few days ago saying that a fetus feels no pain?!
Here is MORE about that amazing photograph:
Story of "The Baby Hand"
RenewAmerica.us ^ | June 14, 2003 | RenewAmerica staff
Posted on 06/15/2003 6:07:50 PM PDT by Nan48
June 14, 2003
RenewAmerica staff report
Some of us may be familiar with a picture called "The Baby Hand," taken on Aug. 19, 1999, by photojournalist Michael Clancy for USA Today, which first published the picture. Clancy was assigned to document a spina bifida operation performed in utero on a 21-week unborn baby named Samuel Armas by Dr. Joseph Bruner, a surgeon at Nashville's Vanderbuilt University Medical Center.
Photo by Michael Clancy
The picture and its story have been circulated on the internet so often that some question whether they are authentic. They are.
Clancy describes the famous picture this way: "Samuel thrusts his tiny hand out of the surgical opening of his mother's uterus. As the doctor lifts his hand, Samuel reacts to the touch and squeezes the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shakes the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. At that moment, I took this 'Fetal Hand Grasp' photo."
In a story he wrote about the incident, Clancy added,
"As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, 'What happened?' 'The child reached out,' I said. 'Oh. They do that all the time,' she responded."Clancy said the experience changed him from pro-choice to pro-life.
Not only did USA Today run the photo, but so did a number of other media sources in the United States, Canada, Ireland, England, France, Norway, Singapore, and South America.
The photo generated controversy at Fox News, where then-talk show host Matt Drudge was prevented by the network from broadcasting the image on his show. That was in the early years of Fox, before the cable giant rose to the top by appealing to conservatives. Drudge
- -who is strongly pro-life- -quit over the dispute in the fall of 1999...-- snip --
Samuel was born on Dec. 2, 1999, weighing 5 pounds 11 ounces
- -four weeks premature. By all indications, he appeared healthy. Today, he's a "chattering, brown-eyed 3½-year-old."-- snip --
Samuel Armas, June 2003 CLICK HERE for the rrest of that thread
yes, just got a FReepmail that mentioned this was the pix that got Drudge canned at Fox
Wonderful post thank you Ron.
All.. I am not terribly bright sometimes. I needed 2 hours ago to get away from computer & tackle my yard.. so what do I do? Post a thread!
lol...
I will catch up later .... thanks in advance for the pix, info you ALL add.
:o)
Amazing.
Dr. Bruner does not only perform fetal surgery -- he also aborts babies with spina bifida and other birth defects if that's what the parents want.
http://www.catholic.org/prwire/headline.php?ID=69
I was a patient of his a few years back, and being in the exam room with him was like being in a very small room with a very large snake. It was chilling. There was no regard for my child as my child -- either this was a fatal condition or it wasn't. If it was, better luck next time. (We still weren't sure what the situation was until my son was born, healthy and 8 lb)
A friend of mine had a baby with holoprosencephaly around 10 years ago and he actually yelled at her and had her convinced that it was cruel to let her child be born because it would be in terrible pain. But terminating was fine because the baby couldn't feel a thing. Which is it?
The picture IS a great one, but the doctor has said in an article that he took the hand out, himself, because he thought it would make a good picture. He made a point of saying that since the mother was anaesthetized, naturally the baby was as well. I remember pulling it from Nexis once, some time ago, and can find it again on Monday when I'm back in the office, if anyone's interested. It does make sense, though - if she's out cold with anaesthesia, so is the baby.
That's another inconvenient fact; the surgeon is pro-choice and acts accordingly.
.
Happy & Blessed Easter to you!
The photographer who took the photos, Michael Clancy, as well as other people who witnessed the surgery, dispute Bruners' claim.
I had forgotten about that aspect of the picture. Yes, that's when Drudge and FOX parted ways.
Boy, does that ever bring tears to the eyes and joy to the heart!
It depends on the type of anesthesia. If she is given a neural block, that is not supposed to affect the baby.
A neural block, or spinal block, is often used in Caesarian section, so as not to affect the baby.
Substances that are inhaled, or given intravenously, can be expected to be also transmitted to the child.
Thanks for letting us know your experience.
Mrs VS
It does make a much better story, I'll grant you that.
I was just going by what the surgeon said; he did not say what type of anaesthesia, just that both mother and child were under the effects.
An Update on Samuel Armas "The Hand of Hope"
National Right to Life News ^ | 10-31-03 | Jonathan Imbody
Posted on 10/31/2003 9:53:55 PM EST by cpforlife.org
On News/Activism 10/31/2003 9:53:55 PM EST · 50 replies · 95,038+ views
Thanks for the ping. A very good news story.
Happy Easter to you and your family.
That is an interesting fact...
Thanks so much for the added info! Happy Easter!
And same to you kind Sir! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you, same to you and your family.
This is the picture that was the beginning of the end of Matt Drudge's show on Fox. That was in 2000 or 2001. Quite an impressive picture.
Little Samuel Alexander Armas is 6 years old and doing well.
Bless the Lord.
i cried when I saw & read that. I have known many spina bif people.. oh what they would have done to have had this surgery!
It's an amazing story.
www.fetal-surgery.com has more pictures of other surgeries and more info.
Thank you. Funny thing when one posts a thread.. It will be soon corrected, updated & a wealth of information comes forth.
Appreciate you taking the time to share. HAPPY EASTER to you & yours
Thanks for posting this.
BTTT
What a blast from the past. I remember when this picture first hit FR. It was one of the hottest threads back then.
Yes, I was surprised it was from the "past". I was a very bad poster & did check it was NOT a hoax but didn't read the article to see it was several years old. Guess it is nice to bring up again. Thanks for your note AP!
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