" The next morning, two others returned to the two stricken climbers’ position. After chipping blocks of ice off their faces, they reported them to be breathing, but severely frostbitten and ‘as close to death as a human being can be’.

The call once again was made to leave them for dead. The climbers trudged back to camp and reported the deaths.

But then something incredible happened. Beck Weathers opened his eyes.

Beck says he saw his wife and kids standing in front of him, calling out to him.

This was the ember.

He slowly dragged himself to his feet and started stumbling forward.

He was completely blind in one eye, which was frozen shut by the cold, and had a visibility range of barely two feet in the other eye. His entire body was like ice, and he was crippled by altitude sickness. Yet he kept stumbling on.

Finally, against all odds, Beck Weathers lurched into camp.

Beck lost both his hands and his nose to frostbite, yet that tiny ember that burnt within him, that ember of hope from his family, was all he needed to get up and to move.

That ember saved his life.

Never underestimate the human spirit. "

― Bear Grylls , A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character