HOLDING HANDS WITH A 21-WEEK OLD FETUS – The famous story of Samuel Armas!

– TRIBUTE: FETAL HAND DEVELOPMENT – [tweetmeme source=”handresearch” only_single=false] Samuel Alexander Armas (born December 2, 1999) became known as the child – shown in a famous photograph by Michael Clancy – that grasped his surgeon’s hand from a hole in his mother’s uterus during open fetal surgery for spina bifida. The true story behind the photo! The famous photograph was taken during a pioneering surgical procedure performed on August 19, 1999. At a mere 21 weeks of gestational age—long before it was time to leave his mother’s womb—Samuel underwent a bold and experimental surgical procedure to close a hole at the bottom of his spinal cord, the telltale characteristic of myelomeningocele, or spina bifida. Samuel’s parents, Julie and Alex, could have terminated Julie’s pregnancy at 15 weeks when they learned about their son’s condition, which can result in lifelong physical and mental disabilities. But the Armases do not believe in abortion. Instead, in August 1999, they drove 250 miles from their home in Villa Rica, Ga., to Nashville, Tenn., where Dr. Joseph Bruner, of Vanderbilt University, performed a surgery bordering on the fantastical. Bruner cut into Julie’s abdomen, lifted her balloonlike uterus out of her body, made an incision in the taut muscle, removed the fetus, sewed up the spinal defect and tucked him back inside. Fifteen weeks later Samuel Armas “came out screaming,” says Julie. So far the story of Samuel Armas from Villa Rica, Georgia, US. The story of Sarah Marie Switzer! Actually, there’s another likewise picture circling the Internet with a full arm reaching out the uterus. But this arm belongs to Sarah Marie Switzer. The Switzer baby shot was taken by photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg for LIFE magazine. During the, July 1, 1999, operation he captured the moment Dr. Bruner gently placed Sarah Marie’s hand back into the uterus. “She’s going to be beautiful,” he recalled saying. Her parents would agree when on August 22, 1999 almost two months after having the surgery Sarah Marie Switzer was born. Born nine weeks premature, doctors were amazed at the health of the baby and allowed Sarah Marie to go home with her parents in early Sept. Sarah Marie showed none of the signs of extreme spina bifida and even kicked her legs as an infant rare in most spina bifida patients. A HOAX story? Since then both photos have been used by opponents of abortion who asserted that that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor’s hand, thus showing signs of life at the 21st week of pregnancy. But the truth appears to be a little different. For example, the surgeons have stated that during a spina bifida surgery both the mother and the fetus are under anesthesia and can not move. The surgerer of Samuel Armas declared: “The baby did not reach out,” Dr Bruner said. “The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on.” He also stated, “Depending on your political point of view, this is either Samuel Armas reaching out of the uterus and touching the finger of a fellow human, or it’s me pulling his hand out of the uterus … which is what I did.” Obiously, things are often not what they appear to be… what’s your thought??? SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • Photo of a 10 week fetal hand! • The early development of the human hand in embryo life! • strange hands – more fascinating hand stories! An example of how the case of Samuel Armas and the case of Sarah Marie Switzer where fused into one story.