Chris Hennessy's upcoming memoir book,

'Touched by Hannah'
A man with cancer (Hennessy). His one-pound newborn, Hannah. And their fight for life.

Hannah was due on December 7, 2009. On September 1, 2009, she entered the world and was classified as a micro-preemie—weighing only one pound, nine ounces—and had a 50% chance of surviving. Doctors said that if she survived, her odds of having an everyday, healthy life were far from favorable.

Chris endured radical prostatectomy cancer surgery on August 3, 2009, less than a month before Hannah's birth, and came close to dying three days later. Then, life-threatening DVT blood clots (prostate cancer side effects) made his uninjured ankle purple and swollen as he walked with much pain and a limp. Follow-up blood tests soon revealed that cancer continued to invade his body.

For months, Hannah and Chris fought for their lives. Chris would be at Hannah's incubator and stay late into the night, long after all the other parents had left.

The only physical contact with Hannah was sticking an arm through a small hole into the incubator.

"When my gargantuan pointer finger brushed Hannah's micro-tiny hand, she'd grab and hold on, and we'd stay connected for up to several hours at a time. I sang ad-lib songs and prayers while bonding with my baby three months before I was supposed to.

When she wrapped her tiny fingers around mine, they felt soft as snowflakes falling unhurriedly from a silent sky, landing gently on my finger.

I thought up a song that became my anthem to Hannah. I'd croon repeatedly. Hann's a soft-touch baby, like outbreaks of snowflakes floating through a stormy sky. My heart has defrosted. I'm here for you, my soft-touch baby.

Hannah became my soft-touch-baby, and when I was with her, I was truly in the moment.

Both of us would face a long, daunting road ahead. The odds were
that one or both of us wouldn't make it. Tomorrow would be a frightening thought. However, when living in the moment, there wasn't a tomorrow. And when tomorrow doesn't exist, there's no stressing about it. I felt honored, blessed, and cherished every second I sat there, Touched by Hannah."

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