Notes Left Behind |  | Authors: Brooke Desserich, Keith Desserich
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $3.40
as of 9/8/2010 19:36 CDT details
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Seller: ph9
Rating:  54 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061886394
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196994810092
EAN: 9780061886393
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Product Description
Elena Desserich dreamed of becoming a teacher. Although her time on this earth was far too short to fulfill her dream, she left behind an enlightening lesson plan on life. Wise beyond her years, Elena never stopped teaching those around her to appreciate the miracle of everyday living even as the innocent six-year-old battled a rare form of brain cancer. Through personal and candid journal entries written as a remembrance for Elena's younger sister, Brooke and Keith Desserich share their emotional journey as they negotiated their contradictory impulses to fight Elena's cancer at all costs and realized the inevitable outcome. Page by page, this journal is a reminder to parents everywhere to appreciate and savor every precious moment they have with their own children. Notes Left Behind tells a story of humility and inspiration. From the time of her diagnosis, Elena accomplished a truly spectacular series of wishes, big and small, that she alone created, from riding in a horse-drawn carriage to painting a masterpiece that would hang in an art museum. Her life motivated the creation of the foundation, The Cure Starts Now, which today helps children everywhere in their fight against cancer. The authors' proceeds from the sale of this book benefits this foundation. Included in the pages of this book are Elena's private messages that she secretly hid around her home, knowing her family would find them when she was gone. These notes show us how even during the darker moments of life, it is possible to find hope and encouragement through selfless love.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 54
 Memoir of how childhood cancer devastated a family September 18, 2009
Clementine Dare (Gilbert, Arizona, USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book is written in the form of a diary alternating voices between a mother and a father as they progress through the treatment and ultimate loss of their daughter to an aggressive form of brain cancer.
I read this book in two days, it's very sad of course. I cried throughout the book. I felt like the parents made great efforts to include the exhaustion and the small details of how they kept their family together. They describe what it is like to make repeated trips to the hospital, the facilities and support they encountered as parents, the challenges of parenting their two girls during this soul-crushing time.
Why would you want to read this book? Well, hopefully you would only read it to help you remember how precious life is, or to get motivated to fight pediatric cancer or just to learn more about their charming daughters Elena and Gracie. This book can help you understand what a child suffering from cancer needs to live her life with dignity and a sense of being a child.
Brooke and Keith Desserich emphasize the shift in their awareness from the ordinary to the extraordinary in the days after the diagnosis. How reading the biggest bedtime story and playing with their children and enjoying every second moved to the forefront of their consciousness. So many parents are guilty of letting the drudgery of parenting interfere with the joy of childhood. This book will definitely help you keep your perspective where it should be, if you are lucky enough to be blessed with health and an intact family.
I think this was a wonderful book and I hope it brings a comfort to the Desserich's to know that I fell in love with both of their little girls too. I'm sorry for the loss of Elena. She deserved to live a full life and it sounds like she was brave and amazing.
Heartbreaking, Enlightening, and Inspiring Story... September 24, 2009
Kat (San Francisco, CA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
When writing a book review, I often write about the strengths and weaknesses of the author's message; how the story is unraveled, how the events are depicted, and how neatly everything is tied together in the end. With Notes Left Behind, I don't feel as if I could review this book as if it were a book...I felt as if I had picked up someone's journal and sneaked a peek without permission. Some events were told without necessary background information. The story ended abruptly without any real epilogue. It was evident what was going to happen at the end of the story.
This is what made Notes Left Behind so brilliant. Keith Desserich's account of the final months of his daughter Elena's life was inspiring. It wasn't a book documenting the decline of Elena as much as it was a celebration of her life. Desserich's intimate writing will leave you with an appreciation for how little time even the healthiest of people have on this planet and how we need to enjoy our loved ones' company and make the most of each day. This is a tragic story but wonderfully written by parents that felt the need to share their daughter's inspiration, strength and love. No one can read this story and not be changed.
My heart goes out to the Desserich family - this is a book that every parent should read. Highly, highly recommended.
Powerful and Life-Changing December 4, 2009
~Kimber~ (MA, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How do I do justice to the story of Elena's (and her family's) fight with a devastating brainstem tumor that has a 5% survival rate?
From the beginning, it was so heart-wrenching, the pictures, the notes. I cried from start to finish. I won't go into the details of the story as I know that's all readily available. So I'm just going to share how it affected me and as a result, will affect others in my life.
As a mom of a four year old girl myself, with beautiful brown hair just like Elena, it affected me so deeply and personally. I was there, with her parents, sobbing at every low, happily enjoying every high. Even though I knew what the outcome would be, my heart ached for a miracle. But there are very few miracles with DIPG. It's one of the cruelest cancers of them all and though rare (about 200 cases per year), it typically strikes young children who have about a year's life expectancy after diagnosis.
How was it life-changing? I've decided that I don't care how rare it is. It's a disease that needs to be fought tooth and nail and eradicated. I will help raise money towards that end.
On a personal level, thank you Elena, Dad, Mom & Gracie for sharing your intensely personal and painful story with us. Thank you for giving me the ability to look past all the unimportant daily trivia of life, and to take the time understand and truly enjoy what's important, your family.
Hug them and tell them you love them every day, and give them an extra squeeze for Elena.
Bittersweet, poignant and personal September 18, 2009
frisky2000 (smallville)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Brooke and Keith Desserich are ordinary parents faced with an extraordinary situation. Their precious 6 year old daughter, Elena, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of brain cancer, and is given 135 days to live. This is a day by day diary written by both parents which chronicles the last months of their child's life. After the devastating diagnosis of diffuse brain-stem glioma, the family, including younger sister Gracie, embark on a journey across the country for treatments and tests, mostly painful and prolonged with no guarantees for improvement. Written with candor and frankness, these parents write about Elena in a way that makes the reader come to know her completely. We learn how she is a pretty pink sparkly kind of princess, a determined and fiercely brave child who treads lightly when trying new things, however reluctantly, but who eventually can be persuaded to conquer any challenge with help and support from Dad, Mom and Gracie. We as readers feel the deep sense of loss as Elena's days dwindle and her prognosis isn't any better. We feel the anger and helplessness which wracks the parents all through the night. They pray for a miracle daily, one that never comes. After maxing out her lifetime limit of radiation treatments, little Elena is happy to live each moment with joy and try to battle the demon that is cancer. We are thrilled right along with her as she gazes at the Disney World attractions, we cry as she stumbles into relapse when paralysis once again takes over one side of her body. We applaude her for trying so hard to be perfectly brave, and want to reach out and cradle her as she shakes in fear with each MRI. Personal photographs of Elena, Grace and their parents are included throughout the book, and we are given an up close and sometimes horrifying look at what the disease and treatments did to the small child over the course of her radiation and chemo. We also get to see the wonderful notes and pictures that Elena lovingly gave to each member of her family, showing her heart shaped hugs and kisses whenever she had pen and paper in hand. Whether you have youngsters of your own or not, you will read this journal with the eyes of a parent, hopeful that little Elena will beat the odds. Keith encourages all of us to hug or kids a little longer and tighter tonight, and I'm already taking heed. A touching and beautiful tribute to a little angel, one I will not soon forget.
Amazing little girl! November 6, 2009
EmmaLee (WI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I havent even finished the book yet. I started balling from the start. It just makes me soooo sad for all the babies with cancer its horrible and we need to find a cure. It is wonderful how Brooke and Keith has shared there beautiful daughters life to promote awareness. Everyone add them to your causes on facebook and donate! God Bless! and hug your babies mine was being hyper yesterday and i was very frustrated and then I remembered Elena!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 54
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