This is the story of a six-year-old girl named Elena. 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 for her younger sister, her daily story tells one of humility and inspiration as she lives each day, one at a time. In her short time, she painted a masterpiece that would hang in an art museum, accomplished a truly spectacular series of wishes that she alone created and inspired a cause that continues today to help children everywhere in their fight against brain cancer.

This is Our Elena...

• She always eats her vegetables first.
• She can never wear enough pink.
• She always writes her name backwards—not because she doesn’t know how to write it, but because she “just likes the way it looks.”
• She crosses her legs when she sits.
• There is nothing better than art class, except, of course, a trip to the library.
• Fiction is better than nonfiction.
• Skip the pop, give her milk. And pour it in a wineglass and say “cheers.”
• She loves “squibble-squabbles” (lace and ruffles).
• Tights are best when in jungle patterns or polka dots.
• No pants, only dresses.
• She loves babies.
• When you play school, she is always the teacher.
• Mom is best for cuddling.
• Sally (a grumpy old Chihuahua) is the best pet she never had.
• You can never have enough headbands.
• All she ever wants in life is to be a mom.

She is simple. She is our Elena.