Hand of Hope.....

rab

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  • Aug 6, 2010
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    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
    from facebook
     

    rab

    Well-known member
  • Aug 6, 2010
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    1-fetalsurgery.jpg


    Part of the spinal cord and spinal nerves, usually encased in a sac, protrude through an opening in the back and is exposed to the amniotic fluid. The brainstem (hindbrain) descends, or herniates, into the spinal canal in the neck and blocks the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. This can cause a damaging buildup of fluid in the brain called hydrocephalus. Credit: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
    Thirty years ago, the first human fetal surgery was performed at the University of California, San Francisco. Now, a randomized controlled trial has proven definitively that fetal surgery can help certain patients before birth.

    http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-fetal-surgery-kids-spine-defect.html