Speechless

Sometimes a picture is worth a lot more than 1000 words. This one is such a one. It leaves me utterly speechless.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old  unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by  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.  Bruner 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. Bruner 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. 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.