Recovery of lost files / missing Adobe Ideas app.

Writing this on behalf of a friend so forgive me if I omit any details. Adobe Ideas began updating then ceased to exist on the iPad in question. When they re-downloaded it from the iTunes store their saved files and images, etc, were missing. Surely there is a way to recover these? I am surprised that the app doesn't automatically back stuff up, or didn't recognize file remnants on the device when it was reinstalled, but surely there's a way to recover these files? Yes, she hadn't saved them elsewhere, or backed them up in some uber safe fashion as she didn't expect the app to commit suicide on her, no it's not jailbroken so I can't just check it's hard drive unfortunately. Does anyone have any ideas? She's incredibly distraught (she's an artist, and had many, many years worth of work built up on there, portraits of loved ones, etc. so she's absolutely bummed right now. It wasn't user error (that was the first thing I usually suspect,) as she's incredibly tech savvy and would have been the first to admit to such. Any ideas, pun not intended?