This is the true story of a six-year-old girl named Elena and her battle against cancer. In her last days she showed a community how to love and how to live. Written through the eyes of her parents as a remembrance for her younger sister, her daily story tells one of humility and inspiration as she lives each day, one at a time. In her short time she painted a masterpiece that would hang in an art museum, she accomplished a truly spectacular series of wishes that she alone created, and she inspired a cause that remains today to help children everywhere in their fight against brain cancer.
KEITH DESSERICH lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Brooke and his daughter Gracie. He is an Entrepreneur with several businesses and author of "Notes Left Behind", yet his main profession is that of a father. With the help of many friends and family, he and his wife founded The Cure Starts Now Cancer Foundation in honor of their daughter Elena and the many other children who are struggling to beat cancer.
At the age of 5, Elena Desserich was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. In an effort to preserve her legacy for his younger daughter Gracie, Keith Desserich and his wife started a journal of memories and experiences with Elena in her final days. When communication with their family proved difficult, this journal was reluctantly published to the Internet where over 12,000 people followed Elena's experiences daily. As her inspiration spread, so did a cause to fight all cancers, both adult and pediatric, through research on those cancers that might provide a "homerun" cure. In many ways, Elena's journal taught people worldwide to savor the smaller moments of life and to appreciate their own children in ways they had forgotten.
After her passing, and with hundreds of requests, Brooke and Keith Desserich decided to self-publish parts of the journal in a book titled "Notes Left Behind" with proceeds to benefit The Cure Starts Now for cancer research. Within weeks, over 10,000 copies were sold worldwide, receiving the attention of media everywhere. In 2009, a second version of "Notes Left Behind" will be published with HarperCollins containing previously withheld entries and copies of the notes that Elena hid throughout the house to be found later by her parents after her death.
