FITCHBURG, Wis (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- A Madison-area mother uses the grief from a personal tragedy to write a top-selling Amazon memoir, called 'Jesse Was Here.'

Fitchburg’s Michelle Bauer lost her son, Jesse, to type one diabetes at just 13-years-old, one decade ago. It's taken her that many years to finally pen the labor of love.

"There are chapters that I don't remember writing. I was just grieving on paper. And the last chapter actually was written in March of 2020, where I kind of look back on the last 10 years since his loss in 2010, and just reflecting on where I am today," Bauer says. 

The Amazon 'hot new release' chronicles Bauer's journey from heartache to hope through her 'Jesse Was Here' programs that provide support, resources and tools to families also navigating a type one death. 

"You know when Jesse passed away, everybody was so afraid of the topic within the community. Doctors didn't want to tell other parents, 'Oh no that, that can't happen to your child, don't worry about it.' I mean everyone was so scared; nobody was talking about it 10 years ago, and you flash-forward, you have two huge organizations, they fully support the program, the 'Jesse Was Here' program," she says.

Those two organizations include co-founder Nick Jonas' Beyond Type One and JDRF.

Bauer says she is experiencing an increase in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So it's been an alarming number. I think I've had about 10 families within the last two weekscontact me for the loss of their children," she says.

But Bauer hopes, however, anyone going through a crisis can find comfort in the carefully-​crafted pages.

"It's about grieving the loss of a child but it's so much more than that; it's about remembering the person who has past, but it's also to help, you know, maybe a person who's had a miscarriage, or maybe they just lost their parents and it's the first major grief that they've gone through," Bauer says. "I mean it's about so much more than, you know, one person it's to say, not only Jesse was here, but your person was here."

A portion of the proceeds of the book benefits both Beyond Type One and the JDRF. Learn how to purchase the book, here.