This story just seems to fishy, the Elena Desserich story seems like a HOAX. I HOPE it goes to a good cause, but the wording on their website is very specific saying only that "US author profits" go to the charity. Here are more fishy things:
1. Money.
-> The "Notes Left Behind" Website only states that US author profits go to the charity. The book is currently printed in 13 languages, sold around the world and already sold 150,000 pre-sale copies before its Oct 27 release date (
http://www.mahalo.com/elena-desseric...nd#cite_note-3). Even with modest author royalties, overseas sales could easily account for at several hundred thousand dollars.
2. Hundreds of notes were found.
-> hundreds? she was very sick; sounds like a full time job making hundreds of notes and hide them.
3. The parents did not find one note before.
-> did they not clean their house for 3 months and 6 weeks?
4. Nobody knew she was making/hiding notes.
->You'd think that if she was diagnosed with cancer, the parents or someone would be spending almost every moment with her. No one saw her making and hiding hundreds of notes.
5. Elena was 6 yrs old.
-> Emotional Maturity. A 6-yr old would have trouble comprehending death, let alone their own death, or their parents lives after their own death. Though a 10-yr old might comprehend this, a 6-year old does not have this emotional maturity.
6. According to the Dad doctors "said" she had 3 months and 6 weeks to live.
-> As a former RN, I find this prognosis very unlikely, doctors are far more likely to say "less than 6 months." A doctor would never know exactly how many days. Even if the chemo lasts for a certain time, there is no guarantee anyone will survive chemo and many don't.
While this story is tragic because an innocent child died, it is unbelievable that a sick child could make "hundreds" of letters, unknown to anyone and hide them all, unknown to anyone, while incredibly sick.