Mama June Shannon’s daughterAnna “Chickadee” Cardwellhas been diagnosed with cancer, PEOPLE has confirmed.
The 28-year-old, who is Shannon’s eldest daughter, was diagnosed withstage 4 adrenal carcinomain January, the outlet said. The cancer was discovered in her liver, kidney and lung following a series of tests after Anna complained about experiencing stomach aches.
Anna — who appeared alongside her mother, 43, and sisterAlana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompsonin TLC’sToddlers & Tiarasand later,Here Comes Honey Boo Boo— reportedly underwent her first round of chemotherapy last month.
A source told TMZ, which first reported the news, that Anna’s family are “very hopeful” she will pull through the diagnosis. Doctors are reportedly waiting to see how she reacts to the chemotherapy before they make any further decisions.
Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell.Anna Cardwell/Instagram
She is a mom to two children of her own — daughter Kaitlyn Elizabeth, born in 2012, and daughterKylee Madison, born in 2015 (the latter to ex-husband Michael Cardwell, whom she separated from in 2017 after three years together).
Mama June Shannon and her four daughters.Christine Salvador/WE tv
Most recently, Anna was linked with boyfriend Eldridge Toney, whom shewent Instagram officialwith in April 2019.
On Tuesday — just days before news of Anna’s health diagnosis broke — the reality star returned to Instagram, posting a new selfie. The picture was the reality star’s first post on her Instagram Grid since July 2022. “Well I ain’t posted here in a while,” she wrote. “Your girl is back sorry for the photo dump that’s going to happen hahah I love y’all and I hope y’all hope y’all are having a good week #imback #2023 #tiktok.”
The post has since been flooded with well wishes from her 216,000 followers.
Meanwhile, Anna and Mama June’s relationship has been strained since 2003, when Anna moved out of her mother’s house and in with her grandmother aftersurviving assault from her mother’s then-boyfriend, registered sex offender Mark McDaniel. In 2014, she told PEOPLE that McDaniel “would try and touch me and all that stuff” when she was 8 years old.
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“A week or so after it happened, I talked to Mama and she was upset, crying and saying, ‘I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, why would you do this to me?’ " Anna told PEOPLE. “And I was like, ‘Mama, he did that to me and I can’t do anything about it. You were never there to see it. You were always at work.’ "
Anna returned to her mom’s home in 2012 ahead of the premiere of the family’s spinoffHere Comes Honey Boo Boo. “Me and Mama realized we needed to put this behind us and get our relationship back on track and that’s what we did and that’s what we have been doing,” Anna explained.
As well as Anna and Alana, 17, Mama June is also mom to Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, 26, and Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efrid, 23.
The mom of four also starred in her own weight loss transformation show in 2017, WE tv’sMama June: From Not to Hot,later rebranded asMama June: Road to Redemption,as she worked toearn a “second chance"with her family.
Mama Junewed her boyfriend of six months, Justin Stroud, at a Georgia courthouse on March 23, 2022. Last month, she and Stroudgot married for a second timein an “intimate oceanfront ceremony” on Feb. 18, 2023. Shannon’s four daughters were all in attendance for the special occasion.
“This was the first time the family had all been together since 2014,” Shannon told PEOPLE. “So it was really special to get married in a place where my family and I have had so many memories!”
source: people.com
