Need Ipod HELP Please?

My son has an Ipod touch that he got for christmas...In january our 15yr old cousin died very suddenly, and my son who is 11 was writing a story in his ipod notepad...this was his first experience with death and this was his way of dealing...shortly after the ipod went a little crazy, in the end we had to restore it and we lost the story...my question is, does Itunes automatically back-up the files to the pc...I would give anything to have the story he was writing...any help is great!!!