Chris Hennessy battled life-threatening side effects after almost dying three days post-radical radical prostatectomy cancer surgery (Aug 3, 2009). The doctor told Chris they got all of it, but subsequent blood tests soon revealed a grim reality--the cancer was still present, continuing its invasion of his body.

 

His daughter was due Dec 7 but entered the world prematurely on Sept 1, 2009. Hannah was classified as a micro-preemie weighing only one pound, nine ounces—with a fifty percent chance of surviving. Doctors said that if she lived, her odds of having a normal, healthy life were poor.

 

For months, Hannah and Chris fought for their lives. Chris would still plant himself at Hannah's incubator, staying late into most nights, long after the other parents had left. 

 

The only physical contact with Hannah was reaching an arm into the small hole on the side of her incubator. Hannah's minuscule hand latched onto her daddy's pointer finger and held it for hours while Chris sang improvised songs and prayers. 

 

“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.” 

 

Not only had the daddy-daughter bonding experience begun, but perhaps the daddy-daughter healing experience. 

 

Project Details

 

• Memoir, approximately 60,000 words

• Manuscript is being sent to the proofreader approx. Dec. 1, 2024

• Target audience – young adult females, though later adulthood females, families who’ve experienced premature birth, and folks with cancer, their spouses, friends, and relatives.

• The screenplay for a Netflix movie will be completed after the book is published.