HAND OF HOPE, MANO DELLA SPERANZA

 

Hand of Hope

Netlore Archive: Viral image shows the hand of a 21-week-old fetus, given the name Samuel Alexander Armas, grasping the finger of a surgeon performing a prenatal operation.

Description: Forwarded email / Viral image
Circulating since: 1999
Status: Authentic
Analysis: See last page
Example:
Email contributed by a reader, March 2, 2003:

Subject: Tiny Hand Of HopeA 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 paper, you probably will never see 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. During 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. 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 my pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person" "The Hand" of the fetus. You can see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible. Pass it on.. The world needs to see this one. Il New York Times intitolò la foto “HAND OF HOPE” (Mano della speranza) ♥ La foto è di un bimbo di 21 settimane, Samuel Arnas, a cui fu diagnosticata la spina bífida, una malformazione che non lascia speranza di sopravvivenza, a meno di ricorrere a un intervento intrauterino. Il Dr. Bruner, dopo numerose ricerche effettuate nel Centro Medico Universitario di Vanderbilt, a Nashville, nel Tennessee, annunció che avrebbe potuto compiere tale intervento, con il bimbo ancora nell’utero materno. Durante l’intervento il chirurgo fece un normale taglio cesareo, estrasse l’utero e vi praticò una piccola incisione attraverso la quale operare il piccolo Samuel. Il Dr. Bruner stava completando l’intervento, che era andato bene, quando Samuel, attraverso il taglio praticato, sporse la sua piccolissima manina e si attaccò al dito del medico stupefatto. Il prestigioso chirurgo disse di aver vissuto il momento più emozionante della sua vita, quando la manina di Samuel prese il suo dito quasi per ringraziarlo del dono della vita che gli aveva fatto. Egli rimase impietrito per vari secondi, durante i quali Samuel continuava a tenergli il dito, dando così la possibilità all’équipe di scattare le fotografie. La madre di Samuel dichiarò di aver pianto per alcuni giorni dopo aver visto le incredibili foto. Oggi Samuel vive una vita normale al 100% . . .