Six-year-old Elena Desserich’s life was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Her family said that at the beginning, they were told to expect that Elena would only have about 135 days to live.
During her final days, the girl began writing letters to her family and hid them all over their home.
“She would tuck them into bookcases, tuck them into dishes, china you don't touch every year and you'd lift it up and there'd be a note in it,” Keith Desserich, Elena’s father, said.
Her father also wrote during their last few months. He kept an online journal of their battle that soon came to have a following.
"Before we knew it, we had 12,000 people a day who were reading this,” Desserich said.
Now he’s turned the collection of memories into a book titled “Notes Left Behind, 135 Days with Elena.”
The Desserich’s said that Elena left behind hundreds of notes all over the house.
The family is hoping to pass on their daughter’s strength and courage.
“They [readers] should take the time to listen and not get caught up in the days rush,” Desserich said. “To this day, I'll never forget that lesson. Wish I would've learned it earlier.”
The book will go on sale this weekend. The Desserich’s will be signing books at the Kenwood Barnes and Noble store starting at 2 p.m.
All the proceeds will go toward cancer research.
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