embryo

"On January 16, 2007, an incredible journey came to an end in Covington, Louisiana. Sixteen months earlier, Noah Benton Markham's life had been jeopardized by the winds and rain of Hurricane Katrina. Trapped in a flooded hospital in New Orleans, Noah depended upon the timely work of seven Illinois Conservation Police officers, and three Louisiana State officers who used flat-bottomed boats to rescue Noah and take him to safety.

Although many New Orleans residents tragically lost their lives in Katrina and its aftermath, Noah's story is, nevertheless, one of many inspirational tales of heroism from the natural disaster. What, then, makes it unique? And why did the story of his rescue end sixteen months after the events of September 2006? The answer is that Noah has the distinction of being one of the youngest residents of New Orleans to be saved from Katrina: when the Illinois and Louisiana police officers entered the hospital where Noah was trapped, he was an embryo, a human being in the very earliest stages of development, frozen with fourteen hundred embryos in canisters of liquid nitrogen."

This excerpt from Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen's Embryo emphasizes the humanity of the tiniest ones among us. The word "embryo" is simply a description of a human being who is at a certain (albeit early) level of development, just like "toddler" or "adult". Click here to read more of Noah's unique story.

Vita Pro Omni!