A little "hand of hope"... an amazing story or a hoax?

I am grateful to Sancho, blogging at Tilting at Windmills, who posted this amazing story following a moving email a reader of his blog sent him.

The email, with the subject line "Hand of Hope" read as follows:

Please read before viewing picture - it's worth it!

A 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 US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

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.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old foetus 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 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.

Now see the actual picture - and how awesome and completely incredible it is.... pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

This is the picture:



An amazing story or a hoax?

Some readers of 'Tilting at Windmills' took exception when one of them, showing prudence, checked this story out.

Frankly, when I first read it, my instinct was to do the same. Call me a cynic if you like. The fact is, there are far too many hoax emails constantly going around and arriving in my inbox on a regular basis. All you have to do is check out places like Urban Legends or Hoax-Slayer to verify what I am saying is the reality... and that hoaxing emails abound!

This one however, is true... but it has to be said, the email does exagerate a touch!

According to About.com's Urban Legends' Analysis, the amazing photo (above) was taken by Michael Clancy and originally published in USA Today and The Tennessean on September 7, 1999, is authentic. It began circulating via email within weeks of its first appearance in newspapers.

The accompanying text is basically accurate, as well. The photo was taken during a surgery performed by Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville on August 19, 1999 to treat a 21-week-old foetus for spina bifida. The operation was a success, and three months later a healthy Samuel Alexander Armas was delivered by C-section.

Doubts have been raised about the assertion that the foetus actually reached out of the opening in the womb to grasp the surgeon's finger, inasmuch as there are at least three different accounts of precisely what happened at that moment, two of them from eyewitnesses:

This amazing photo, taken by Michael Clancy and originally published in USA Today and The Tennessean on September 7, 1999, is authentic. It began circulating via email within weeks of its first appearance in newspapers.

The accompanying text is basically accurate, as well. The photo was taken during a surgery performed by Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville on August 19, 1999 to treat a 21-week-old foetus for spina bifida. The operation was a success, and three months later a healthy Samuel Alexander Armas was delivered by C-section.

Doubts have been raised about the assertion that the foetus actually reached out of the opening in the womb to grasp the surgeon's finger, inasmuch as there are at least three different accounts of precisely what happened at that moment, two of them from eyewitnesses:

• Email text (above): "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."



• Photographer Michael Clancy: "Samuel came out from under anesthesia too soon and thrust his clenched fist out of the surgical opening to his mother's womb. In my opinion, Samuel was in pain. Dr. Joseph Bruner reached over and gently lifted Samuel's hand, and Samuel reacted by squeezing the doctor's finger."



• Surgeon Joseph Bruner: "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."

Urban Legends analysis summarises:

"Perhaps it all boils down to semantics. Dr. Bruner has stated elsewhere that Samuel's hand "appeared" in the uterine opening before he reached out and lifted it, lending credence to photographer Clancy's version of events. In any case, although it appears the email does exaggerate when it says the foetus "reached ... through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger," something akin to that really did happen.

Such quibbles don't lessen the impact of the photograph itself, which Dr. Bruner has described as "powerful" and Michael Clancy calls "miraculous." It should come as no surprise that both the image and Samuel Armas' success story have figured prominently in the abortion debate ever since."

So... there you have it... this amazing story is true... and it did happen. I hope you were as moved by it as I was!

Update on Samuel Armas

Here's an update on little Samuel, written by Charles W. Colson on BreakPoint Commentary in January 2000.

Samuel, the baby in the photograph, was born healthy and active five weeks after his operation.

Today, instead of looking forward to life as a paraplegic, he enjoys the prospect of running and playing like other kids.

You can read more here.

The last available update on young Samuel was posted on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, around 2003... and at that time, he was coming along: Samuel Armas.

I wonder how he is today? He should be nine years old now? I do hope he's growing up healthily and well!

MI5 gets the message on Scientific Advice... 40 years too late

I read today, with complete incredulity... that the British security service MI5 is recruiting a chief scientific adviser to ‘lead and co-ordinate’ its scientific work.

WHAT?? Does this mean that the British security services... in 2009... in the 21st century... hasn't had a 'chief scientific adviser'... for years already?? Unbelievable!!

But... there you have it... according to the Beeb's Science and Environment website... that's how things are with our spy catchers.

Despite being shown the way long ago by the likes of James Bond and 'Q' for over 40 years, (Q first appeared in 1962 in Dr No) our frontline defences on security have not had someone scientifically advising our spies... during all this time. Amazing!!

Ah well... better late than never I suppose one would say with typical British phlegm. I wonder what the cousins make of this??

Anyhow... apparently, the the job is being advertised on the MI5 website, with the successful applicant expected to use their expertise to thwart terror operations around the world! (You don't say!)

Candidates for the ‘unique and challenging’ role need to have ‘world-class scientific expertise and credibility’, ‘excellent strategic skills’, ‘outstanding influencing and communication skills’ as well as a successful track record of ‘managing critical projects and processes in a complex environment’.

The post will take up two or three days a week, the advert says. Hmmm... so only part time too! It gets better!

According to the Government's chief scientific adviser, Professor John Beddington, the new recruit will have to keep up with the latest scientific developments to ensure British intelligence stays one step ahead of the country's enemies.

If all this wasn't so serious... it would be laughable... well it IS laughable but... I'm still amazed... stunned!!

Here's something I strongly recommended to applicants... James Bond 007: Q Manual... and I would add to whoever is selected... the best of British luck to you mate... you're going to need it!!

Oh... I just had a brilliant thought! I do recall a very suitable candidate may have recently become available on the job market. I am led to believe this chap is apparently very good with poison (hmmm.. but not so good with computer literacy)! Perhaps our man at Westminster... the esteemed Guido Fawkes might like to offer a good letter of reference??

Read more on 'Q' and James Bond on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Search for more on 'Q' and James Bond at Amazon.co.uk

A Llanito in Space!

I bumped into my old friend John Borda today. John is a freelance web designer these days, based not too far from me in the Newmarket area. In conversation, as we caught up with each other, he mused about how close it came for a Llanito to be 'in space'!

He told me how he had been reading through the news the other day, about the European Space Agency's (ESA) busy programme for the coming year when he came across the image of a familiar-looking satellite. John said, "it’s not as if it looks like any other satellite. It’s actually quite unusual; a very compact 'arrow-like' shape, with small fins on it".

It turns out, that over ten years ago, John was working for a scientific research firm, Oxford Instruments, testing superconducting materials, on a contract for ESA.

"While I can’t claim to be the 'brains' behind them", John said, "I was testing these materials, to see if they could be made into more sensitive devices, more reliably".

One of these devices is known as a 'SQUID' (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device). Marvelling at this wonderful piece of engineering science, he excitedly explained that this is apparently, "the most sensitive magnetic field detector known to man"!

To illustrate, he recalled how they could sense a bunch of keys being jangled at the other end of their lab and were impossible to test during rush-hour because of all the 'noise' of the 'metal' cars moving outside!. (It appears that the lab later moved as far away from a major road as it could!).

To return to the 'Llanito in Space' possibility, he told me these are the very detectors at the heart of the GOCE satellite which is due to be launched on 16th March 2009.

Strategically placed around a 'jumping-jack' shaped piece of niobium, they can detect tiny movements in all three dimensions as the satellite passes low over the Earth. These will allow the satellite to map tiny variations in the gravity field over the planet and provide highly detailed data about the Earth, including sea levels, potential mineral deposits and the like.

John remembers putting together an annual series of proposals about this satellite, including ground test rigs and other aspects of its design.

However, he said, "my main contribution was to speed up the ability to change the many drafts it went through".

"As for the first version I was using a scalpel and several rolls of Scotch tape to 'cut and paste' the proposal and it’s many complex diagrams together... literally. No Photoshop back then!"

The next version was entirely electronic, apparently, with the exception of the front cover, an artist’s impression of the satellite, which he didn’t have in electronic form.

"We didn’t have a scanner in the office, but we did have a fax, so I faxed it to my computer modem, and was thus able to use the image!"

Sadly, said John, the nature of the ESA contract changed to "something beyond my skills", so he was out of a job. But that image stayed with him.

"It was, and still is, an unusual shape for a satellite. This is because it orbits so low it 'grazes' the atmosphere, so it needs to be streamlined, and to minimise any vibrations that might be caused by the usual solar panel 'wings', which would interfere with the sensitive gravity detector."

In a wistful tone, John concluded:

"I would have been one of a 'cast of thousands' involved in getting this satellite launched later this year, all being well. But, still, over a decade later, it will be good to see it fly!"

ESA's GOCE Mission

ESA's GOCE mission is dedicated to measuring the Earth's gravity field and modelling the 'geoid' with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution.

GOCE is the first in a series of research missions known as Earth Explorers. Driven by the needs of the scientific community, Earth Explorers will provide the data to help understand critical Earth system variables and put Europe in pole position on Earth observation in the coming years.

This video gives an excellent explanation of what the GOCE mission is all about:



GOCE is due for launch in March 2009 on a Russian 'Rockot' vehicle, a converted SS-19 Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

All the data collected by GOCE will go towards creating a global gravity-field map with a level of accuracy never before available.

ESA has developed an internet interface that will make these data easily and quickly available to scientists and researchers.