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The funny, blunt and inspiring letter left behind by a mom who died from cancer

McManamy, who gained fame for penning a collection of cards for all of her daughter's upcoming milestones, also left a moving message for everyone else.
/ Source: TODAY

Before her death last week, Heather McManamy ensured she'd still be there for her daughter long after stage 4 cancer took her life.

She did that by penning cards to mark all of the major milestones that 4-year-old Brianna will eventually face.

But as it turns out, the 36-year-old also left a moving message for friends and those who followed her story, so that she could live on for them, too.

"So…I have some good news and some bad news," she wrote in a letter her husband Jeff shared on Facebook shortly after her death. "The bad news is, apparently, I’m dead. Good news, if you’re reading this, is that you are most definitely not (unless they have Wi-Fi in the afterlife)."

The sometimes-funny, sometimes-painful message is refreshingly honest and straightforward.

"Yes, this sucks. It sucks beyond words, but I’m just so damn glad I lived a life so full of love, joy and amazing friends," she went on. "I am lucky to honestly say that I have zero regrets and I spent every ounce of energy I had living life to the fullest. I love you all and thank you for this awesome life."

RELATED: Letters to last a lifetime: Mom with terminal cancer's gift to her daughter

And even in her letter to others, Brianna was first in her thoughts.

"Please, please, please do not tell Brianna that I am in heaven," she begged. "In her mind, that means that I chose to be somewhere else and left her. In reality, I did everything I could to be here with her, as there is nowhere, NOWHERE, I would rather be than with her and Jeff. Please don’t confuse her and let her think for one second that is not true. Because, I am not in heaven. I’m here. But no longer in the crappy body that turned against me."

And she had some amazing sentiments to share about her "true love and soulmate," Jeff.

"Every day was full of hilarity and love with Jeff by my side," she explained. "He is genuinely the best husband in the universe. Through all my cancer crap, he never wavered when so many people would want to run. Even on the worst days you could imagine, we found a way to laugh together. I love him more than life itself and I truly believe that a love like that is so special it will live forever. "

Jeff didn't respond Facebook messages requesting an interview from TODAY.com.

Heather urged her friends to celebrate her life rather than simply mourn her death, to "dance on the bar for me."

After all, she assured them she'd be watching.

"I look forward to haunting each one of you, so this isn’t so much a goodbye as it is see you later," she wrote.

She closed her letter, which has been shared nearly 20,000 times, on a serious note with an important request.

"Please do me a favor and take a few minutes each day to acknowledge the fragile adventure that is this crazy life," Heather wrote. "Don’t ever forget: every day matters."

The cards Heather wrote to her daughter are being collected for a book. "Cards for Brianna: A Lifetime of Lessons and Love from a Dying Mother to Her Daughter" is set for release in the spring of 2016.

Follow Ree Hines on Twitter.