Story highlights When Heather McManamy's cancer metastasized, she decided to write cards to her daughter

She wrote a card for every milestone she anticipates for her daughter

Writing the lifetime's worth of letters was a way for McManamy to regain control of her life, too

(CNN) It was a grim realization for Heather McManamy when she discovered during an echocardiogram that the breast cancer she fought so hard against had metastasized.

Her stage two cancer, which was diagnosed in April 2014, had spread. There was cancer in her liver, bones, even her skull.

"It was pretty much everywhere," the 35-year-old McFarland, Wisconsin, resident said.

The young mother already knew there was roughly a 50-50 chance she would have a cancer recurrence before age 50, but she didn't expect it to happen at the tail end of her initial treatment.

She and her husband, Jeff McManamy, were in shock when they learned the news, and spent hours walking through a grocery store, just to process the information before they went to pick up their 4-year-old daughter, Brianna.

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