OPERATION
OF THE CENTURY
A little guy grabs hold of a helping hand!
Here is a story that will shake you, even if you are against abortion. The
photo has to be one of the most powerful ever taken, and the implications blow
every abortion apologetic out of the water. This story makes murderers of
all abortionist advocates, Hillary and Bill, Al (Bloody) Gore, Planned (Massacre)
Parenthood, and all the holocaust promoters, deserve the fate they mete out to
their victims for promoting the slaughter of the infants. We commend The
Irish Independent, USA Today, and Matt Drudge for blowing this world wide.
Holding hands Take a good look at this picture. It's one
of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The tiny hand of a foetus reaches
out from a mother's womb to clasp a surgeon's healing finger. It is, by the way,
21 weeks old, an age at which it could still be legally aborted. The tiny hand
in the picture above belongs to a baby which is due to be born on December 28.
It was taken during an operation in America recently. Paul Harris reports on a
medical development in the control of the effects of spina bifida ... and on a
picture which will reverberate through the on-going abortion debate here
Your first instinct is to recoil in horror. It looks like a close-up of some
terrible accident. And then you notice, in the center of the photograph, the tiny
hand clutching a surgeon's finger. 
The baby is literally hanging on for life. For this is one of the most remarkable
photographs taken in medicine and a record of one of the world's most extraordinary
operations. It shows a 21-week-old foetus in its mother's womb, about
to undergo a spine operation designed to save it from serious brain damage. The
surgery was carried out entirely through the tiny slit visible in the wall of
the womb and the `patient' is believed to be the youngest to undergo it.
At that age the mother could have chosen to have the foetus aborted. Her decision
not to, however, led to an astonishing test not just of medical technology, but
of faith. The future Samuel Armas has spina bifida, which left part
of his spinal cord exposed after the backbone failed to develop. The
operation was designed to close the gap and protect the cord, the body's motorway
for nerve signals to the brain. So, on an unborn patient no bigger
than a guinea-pig, the operation was performed without removing the foetus from
the womb. After learning from tests that the baby had spina bifida,
Samuel's mother and father, Mr. And Mrs. Armas, were desperate and asked
friends to search for help. Samuel's grandmother found a website giving
details of pioneering surgery being carried out by a team at Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee. Although the results have not yet been endorsed in medical
journals, they looked encouraging to. Their doctor put them in touch
with Dr. Joseph Bruner (it is his finger in the photograph). A race against time
had begun. Because it affects the spinal cord, spina bifida can lead
to a condition that causes brain damage. Mr and Mrs. Armas were told that if they
were to avoid the condition, which was not then present in Samuel, they had to
act fast. ``I wasn't concerned about a child who couldn't walk,''
said Julie, ``but I want a child who knows me.'' The surgery was terrifying,
and the risks were great, but the doctor entered the womb of Mrs. Armas, did the
surgery, and said goodbye to little Samuel until December 28. Samuel
has not yet felt the touch of his mother's skin against his own and he knows nothing
of life outside her womb. But perhaps Samuel Alexander Armas will be able to shake
Dr Bruner's hand again. The calm before the abortion debate storm
Matt Drudge, who is anti-abortion, was to air the photo, but his associates
at Fox News raged on him for it and threatened him. He sacrificed his future
with network TV over the thing, and Balaam's Ass Speaks commends Mat Drudge for
taking this stand. He will be rewarded one way or another. Next
time you hear about someone wanting to kill their baby, tell them about little
Samuel.
BACK
TO OPENING PAGE OF THE JOURNAL BACK
TO WAR ROOM BACK
TO SERMONS AND BIBLE STUDIES ge | 