Dying Mom Writes Cards to 4-Year-Old Daughter

It's true when they say that you'll never know how important something is, until you lose them.

For Heather McManamy, that something is one big thing that really matters.

The 35-year-old mother from McFarland, Wisc., has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She knows very well that eventually she'll lose the opportunity to stay with her 4-year-old daughter Brianna, and raise her.

Last April 2013, she was first diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. By last summer, it had affected her liver and other parts of her body and was declared to be stage 4, she said, according to NYdailynews.

"Once you're stage 4 there is no cure," she told WMTV in a video.

So what did she do about it? Deciding not to waste her remaining time, she wrote her daughter cards that would let the little princess know that even though mommy's gone, mom still loves her.

So far, she has written 40 different cards, all of them written for Brianna.

"I did them from when she's older or younger - random encouragement, bad day, wedding, driver license, even first breakup," she told ABC News of the cards she thoughtfully wrote.

She hopes to give them to her daughter personally, even though she knows that it might not happen that way, as she might not be around to do that.

"Every one of these that I get to hand out in person will be an accomplishment," she says.

Having tried other treatment options to no avail, she decided to make the most use of her time making the cards to give to her little one.

Last year she also raised funds, using a GoFundMe page, with the intention of having a proper goodbye to her daughter and her husband.

With the funds she raised they were able to afford a trip to Disney World, where Brianna was dressed up like a princess.

The funds also afforded her a marker that will serve as a memorial in their favorite park, the Olbirch Gardens park. Written in the marker is "Heather, Jeff, & Bri love these gardens," as seen in the NYdailynews report.

"I want her to always know that I did everything I could possibly do to be here," she told WMTV of her cause.

Her story tells the world that life is indeed worth living if lived for the right things, no matter how long or short it may be.