This is literally the picture that made everything click for me. I know a lot of you, I’m sure find this picture to be gross and you just want to look away but that’s not how I see it. I saw this picture my freshman year in high school and knew I wanted to take care of premature babies. I think this is one of the most remarkable pictures I have ever seen.
The tiny hand is reaching out and clutching onto the surgeon’s finger. In 1999, this 21 week old fetus in its mother’s womb was about to undergo a spina bifida surgery. Spina bifida left part of the fetus’s spinal cord exposed after the back bone failed to develop. This decease can lead to brain damage. The operation was designed to close the gap and protect the spinal cord. The whole surgery was carried out through the tiny slit you see in the mother’s womb. Having the surgery before the baby is born gives it a better chance of healing, and prevents or limits brain damage. It does not cure spina bifida though. The fetus was named later Samuel.
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Samuel Armas, 9, proudly displays ribbons he's won for swimming.
Backstroke is his best stroke, he said |
Samuel is now 11 years old. "When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way," Samuel told FOXNews.com. "I feel very thankful that I was in that picture." His picture was used as proof of development in the womb and was later cited during congressional debates on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which passed in 2000. Samuel has to wear a lower leg brace for the rest of his life but he loves to swim and do other things kids love.
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