Notes Left Behind - A Heartbreaking Book That Inspires

If you ever find yourself having a bad day or feeling stressed as I did today, think about stories like this: The family of a little girl named Elena Desserich, who died of brain cancer at the age of 6, discovered after her death that she'd hidden hundreds of little notes for her family to find after she'd gone. She'd tucked them into backpacks, drawers, and between books.

In a new book called Notes Left Behind, Elena's parents, Brooke and Keith, share the journal entries they'd written during their daughter's battle with cancer as well as what Elena wrote in her notes to her family.

Why do unbearable things like this happen in our world? Why do little children get sick and suffer? We can only make our feeble attempts at guessing the answers. But we can be certain that beauty exists when we think about children like Elena and the love that she and her family felt for each other. And when we think about stories like Elena's, it certainly puts something as trivial as a bad day into perspective. I'm going to go and hug my child now and be grateful for the fact that I get to tuck him into bed tonight and kiss him, which I think I may do a hundred times.

Thank you Brooke and Keith, for sharing your story and the spirit of your lovely daughter with the world.