Mama June confirms daughter Anna has terminal cancer

Reality TV star ‘Mama June’ Shannon has revealed that her daughter Anna’s cancer is terminal.

Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell has been living with cancer since a diagnosis of stage 4 adrenal carcinoma in January 2023, but her mother has now described life as an ‘emotional roller coaster’ and revealed that the cancer is terminal.

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The 43-year-old reality TV star said of her daughter’s illness: “We don’t know what to expect because the cancer is very aggressive, and it grew from nothing to something huge on the left side of her body really fast.”

She told Entertainment Tonight that her 28-year-old daughter – the sister of fellow reality star Honey Boo Boo – has done four rounds of chemotherapy at this point.

Her other daughter and co-star on Mama June: Family Crisis, Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird added: “A lot of people thought that [the treatment] was gonna make her sick and stuff like that, [but] she’s able to bounce back pretty quick.”

Honey Boo Boo – real name Alana Thompson – added: “It does wear her body down sometimes, but other than that, she’s pretty good.”

Efird went on to say that her sister can ‘can still go to the grocery store, she can drive herself [and] she’s still able to take the kids to and from places’.

However, she now ‘doesn’t have hair, she has no eyebrows [and] she doesn’t have any hair on her arms or anything like that’.

This news will no doubt be devastating for the whole family, but particularly for Cardwell’s two daughters, 10-year-old Kaitlyn and seven-year-old Kylee.

Efird explained: “The 10-year-old is aware. I don’t think she fully understands,

“I think she understands that Mommy is sick and Mommy might not be here for a while.

“She’s 10, but she’s a lot more mature than that because she’s been raised around older people.”

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Shannon then added: “Kaitlyn was always close with Anna, but now she doesn’t go anywhere without Anna.

“I get that because she’s thinking if Anna goes somewhere, then maybe Anna might not be at the house when she gets back.”

Cardwell’s treatment options are now up in the air, with immunotherapy and clinical trials amongst the options.

However, Toddlers & Tiaras star June said she ‘just wants to see how it’s gonna go’ and added that it’s ‘scary’ that they have no idea ‘what is going to happen next’.

“For me, it’s an emotional roller coaster sometimes. Mentally it’s always on my mind… We know it’s terminal,” June said.

“She’s stage 4. She’s not gonna go into remission. We’ve all accepted that, so I just tell people ‘one day at a time’ ’cause you never know.”

Efird added: “Honestly, who’s not to say a year from now they’ll have a cure. The medical field is growing every single day.”

“It is crazy to think that she will not be here probably in five years, but I’m hoping that she can pull through and fight 10, 20 years,” said Thompson.