Amazing Picture

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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 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 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. B! runer 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. Br uner 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.

7 ounce wonders, music and dogs that are not into beer

[PhreeZone 20]

That pic is from back in 1999. It was also in USA Today and a ton of other magizines, sorry to burst your bubble.

Instead of posting the stuff that gets forwarded through inbox after inbox, take a look at something like Snopes http://www.snopes.com/photos/thehand.asp and see if its there and the details of it.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[rwieder 0]

That's deep.

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

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That pic is from back in 1999. It was also in USA Today and a ton of other magizines, sorry to burst your bubble.

Instead of posting the stuff that gets forwarded through inbox after inbox, take a look at something like Snopes http://www.snopes.com/photos/thehand.asp and see if its there and the details of it.

Having a bad day?

7 ounce wonders, music and dogs that are not into beer

[tkhayes 348]

no one is having a bad day - just pointing out the stuff that floats around and no one bothers to ask "I wonder if this is real or just bullshit..."?

taken to the extreme, this junk gets people riled up about all kinds of things, starts wars, protests, and gets people killed.. People need to stop and think - but few do.

[billvon 3,122]

>Having a bad day?

?? It's still a cool picture, just not a recent one.

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>Having a bad day?

?? It's still a cool picture, just not a recent one.

First time I’ve seen it...checked...it was real.
It is unbelievable to me what we as humans have become capable of accomplishing in a mere 100-150 years. Can you imagine what we will be able to do 100 years from now?
We invest so much of our energy and money into wars and politics. If we took just a fraction of that and put it towards causes that plant seeds for growth, rather than destruction, we would accomplish so much more as a global society.

7 ounce wonders, music and dogs that are not into beer

[Rebecca 0]

It's incredible.

Absolutely incredible.

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[billvon 3,122]

>We invest so much of our energy and money into wars and politics.
>If we took just a fraction of that and put it towards causes that plant
> seeds for growth, rather than destruction, we would accomplish so
> much more as a global society.

Yep. If we had taken just the money spent so far in Iraq and invested it wisely, we could be independent of foreign oil right now - and perhaps not need to fight the next war as a bonus.

[rasmack 0]

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Yep. If we had taken just the money spent so far in Iraq and invested it wisely, we could be independent of foreign oil right now - and perhaps not need to fight the next war as a bonus.

Oh grow up. I suppose that next you will suggest investing in research and education...

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[wmw999 2,595]

If people would just do the right thing all the time we wouldn't need birth control, police, weight loss surgery, rehab -- man, think of the money we'd save.

That is an impressive picture, as is the thought of successful fetal surgery.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[OATSF14 0]

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Yep. If we had taken just the money spent so far in Iraq and invested it wisely, we could be independent of foreign oil right now - and perhaps not need to fight the next war as a bonus.

I agree with one exception. Let's add the millions/billions spent on worthless social programs to the Iraq money. THEN we would have some money to spend.

[kallend 2,166]

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>Having a bad day?

?? It's still a cool picture, just not a recent one.

I think he's pointing out that while the picture is indeed real, the accompanying tear-jerking commentary is a fabrication (aka bogus, untrue).

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[billvon 3,122]

>Let's add the millions/billions spent on worthless social programs to the Iraq money.

I'll add a caveat to that. Let's take the million/billions we were spending on social programs and use it to give those people jobs in the new energy industry we'd create.

[Nightingale 0]

What actually happened, as described in news reports of the surgery, was that:

Just as surgeon Dr. Joseph Bruner was closing the incision in Julie Armas' uterus, Samuel's thumbnail-sized hand flopped out. Bruner lifted it gently and tucked it back in.

Dr. Bruner later elaborated on some of the exaggerated and false claims made about this picture:

"It has become an urban legend," says Bruner, the Vanderbilt University surgeon who fixed the spina bifida lesion on Samuel. Many people he hears from wonder whether it's a fake.

"One person said the photo had been reviewed by a team of medical experts and they had determined that it was a hoax," Bruner says with a laugh.

More commonly, people want to know how the photo came to be.

Some opponents of abortion have claimed that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand.

Not true, Bruner says.

Samuel and his mother, Julie, were under anesthesia and could not move.

"The baby did not reach out," Bruner says. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on."

-snopes

[briguy 0]

is anyone grossed out by the picture? gives me the heeebs.

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[Nightingale 0]

I thought it was a cool picture. Then again, I grew up watching the surgery channel during dinner, so not much grosses me out, medical-wise.

[Rebecca 0]

He looks like he's trying to hatch.

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[rehmwa 2]

Someone has to ask -

So, if at that moment the mother wanted to abort, should the government have had to pay for it?

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[billvon 3,122]

>should the government have had to pay for it?

Only if she bought child porn from a born-again Christian who works at a government church.

[rehmwa 2]

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>should the government have had to pay for it?

Only if she bought child porn from a born-again Christian who works at a government church.

I really think someone can roll that into a nice sig line...

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[kelpdiver 2]

so what came of the kid? He should be 6 or 7 now if it all worked out.

[rehmwa 2]

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so what came of the kid? He should be 6 or 7 now if it all worked out.

and likely unreasonably afraid whenever someone opens the shades in his room on a bright day

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[billvon 3,122]

>and likely unreasonably afraid whenever someone opens the shades in his room on a bright day.

And still has nightmares when people try to shake his hand.

[rehmwa 2]

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>and likely unreasonably afraid whenever someone opens the shades in his room on a bright day.

And still has nightmares when people try to shake his hand.

nightmares of people with ridiculously LARGE hands trying to shake his hand

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants