Notes Left Behind CD

Desserich, Brooke; Desserich, Keith

ISBN 10: 0061952826 ISBN 13: 9780061952821

Publisher: HarperAudio, 2009

Synopsis

“Elena has left behind a story of resilience, hope and most of all, love. We can’t help but take her into our hearts, and carry the best of her into our own lives.”

—Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture

 

Notes Left Behind by Brooke and Keith Desserich began as a journal they kept after their five-year-old daughter Elena was diagnosed with brain cancer and given just 165 days to live. As poignant and inspiring as Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture, it is the story of the courage of a truly remarkable little girl who accomplished so much in so little time—and of her parents’ love and dedication to their child and their family. New York Times bestselling author James Patterson was profoundly moved by Elena’s beautiful life and Notes Left Behind, calling it, “a stunning story that teaches us how precious children, family, and life are, and that the sacrifices we make are worth it. I won’t forget the Desserich family, and neither will you.”

About this title

About the Author

Brooke and Keith Desserich live in Cincinnati with their daughter, Gracie. They have several businesses, but their main professions are as a mother and a father. With the help of family and many friends, they founded The Cure Starts Now, a revolutionary cancer foundation dedicated to a "home run" cure strategy for all cancers, starting first with one of the most deadly and difficult cancers: pediatric brain cancer.

From the Back Cover

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.

Reviews

In the pantheon of horrors a parent can envision, the ultimate is the death of a child. Brooke and Keith Desserich open up their personal journey through this nightmare in the heartbreaking chronicle of 5-year-old Elena's final days of struggle with a fatal brain tumor. Keith himself delivers the introduction and afterword, lending an even greater level of intimacy to the journal. Narrators T. Ryder Smith and Coleen Marlo's presentation of the parents' wrenching emotions enhances the poignancy of the family's ordeal without descending into the maudlin. The audio version's only shortcoming is the listener's inability to see Elena's drawings and read her notes, which are reproduced in the print version. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061952826
• ISBN 13: 9780061952821
• Binding: Audio CD