This is the true story of a six-year-old girl named Elena and her battle against brain cancer. In her last days she showed a community how to love and how to live. Written through the eyes of her parents, Brooke and Keith Desserich, as a remembrance to Elena's younger sister, Elena's story is one of humility and inspiration as she lives each day, one day 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 today helps children everywhere in their fight against brain cancer.

In Notes Left Behind Elena's parents struggle to negotiate their contradictory impulses to both fight Elena's cancer at all costs and to realize the inevitable outcome that awaits their daughter. The journal is candid and sincere in its treatment of deeply personal and tragic events and is a reminder to parents everywhere to appreciate and savor every precious moment they have with their own children.