Mama June Shannon is opening up about her oldest daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell‘s devastating battle with Stage 4 cancer, revealing who has stepped up to care for Anna, and how the family is dealing with what appears to be a possible grim prognosis for Anna.
“As her mom, I’ve had to have those talks that you don’t want to have with your child,” the Mama June: Family Crisis star said in an interview with ET on Friday. “We’ve had those talks as a family, too. But we all know what the end-game is and we all are prepared for that. I mean, you’re never prepared for that, but we know what could happen, and her children know that, which is sad because she has a 10- and a seven-year-old.
“Her 10-year-old knows more of it than her seven-year-old does,” June added.
News broke in March that 28-year-old Anna— who appeared on her family’s first reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo— is battling Stage 4 adrenal carcinoma, a rare cancer that had already spread to Anna’s liver, kidney and lung by the time it was discovered in January.
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According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for a person diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma at the stage Anna has it (where it has already spread to distant parts of her body) is 38 percent. According to UCLA Health, if the tumor can’t be surgically removed, “the prognosis for adrenal cancers that have spread to nearby or distant organs is much less favorable, with only 10-20 percent surviving five years.”
“We don’t know what the life expectancy is,” June said in an interview with Page Six on Friday. “Her cancer is very rare. Only one in 1 million people get it. There [are] only a few doctors that treat it. And the couple of doctors here in the United States that treat it, I feel like — I’m not trying to be mean — are experimental doctors.”
“She has had two rounds of chemo and she has her third round next week,” Mama June explained to ET. “She has a scan on Saturday and we get results back on [May] 9th. The second round [of chemo] has been really more rough on her. She lost all of her hair…she sleeps a lot this round. Her appetite is going. She doesn’t want to eat some days.”
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June told Page Six that if the scans show that the chemo is not helping after four rounds, “we go back to the drawing board, and we don’t know what the next step is.”
In her interview with ET June stated that Anna began experiencing back pain in August 2022 and went to the hospital. A cyst was discovered on her kidney and was removed. A biopsy on the cyst revealed Anna had Stage 2 cancer, but doctors felt that it had all been removed. In January, a spot of cancer was found, prompting Anna to go to a doctor in Atlanta, where it was discovered that she had Stage 4 cancer. (June told Page Six that they got the news just one week after June and her husband Justin Stroud had their beach wedding ceremony— which Anna attended— in February.)
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“It happened very quickly,” June said. “It’s in her lungs, her liver, her kidneys and her spleen, all on the left side. And it has moved very rapidly and grew very rapidly.”
June— who, in the past, has had long periods of estrangement from Anna— stated that she, her husband Justin and her other daughters– Pumpkin, Jessica and Alana— have been the ones who have been caring for Anna through her cancer battle.
“[Justin and I] stay with her during chemo, and then Pumpkin and Alana come up one day of the week and then Jessica comes up,” June said. “Honestly, it’s just been me and Justin, Alana, Pumpkin, Jessica, [Pumpkin’s husband] Josh [Efird] and Elridge, which is Anna’s boyfriend, that has been there. None of the other family has been around, which is sad because, at the end of the day, when all of this is over with, they have to live with their decisions.”
The new season of ‘Mama June: Family Crisis’ premieres Friday on WEtv. It is unknown if Anna’s cancer battle will be included in the show.
RELATED STORY: Mama June Shannon’s Husband Justin Stroud Says He Regrets Getting Married in Season Premiere of ‘Mama June: Family Crisis’
(Photos: WEtv; Instagram)
This is so unbelievably sad.
Fuck Cancer
“We know what the end game is” “When all this is over with” What kind of mother talks like that about their daughter that is fighting for her life?!
I have grown to really despise the majority of that family. I used to hold Pumpkin in very high regard until I saw who she really was on tik tok. Alana talking in a exaggerated blaccent ONLY on tik tok, not a hint of it on the show. Alana, June and Pumpkin begging people for money constantly.
I caved and watched last night and Pumpkin has the storyline of not having anything to do with June because of child support. June has the same story of none of her daughters speaking to her. Yet she is on tik tok with her daughters constantly. She is talking about being there during Anna’s chemo. You don’t get a gold star for that, June. That’s the least you can do!!
It pisses me off to no end that Anna’s family is trying to capitalize on the cancer. It’s not their place to constantly “sell their story”, or try to garner up sympathy-and more-while doing phuck all for Anna and her family.
They need to just stop already. It’s not likely that Anna is even in a place, mentally or physically, to deal with all their bs and the crapstorm it’s likely to cause. She may not even realize they’re trying to capitalize on it, to be honest, she has more important things to worry about right now.
My thoughts are always with Anna and her kids-those poor girls deserve a much, much better family than Anna’s mom and sisters. They need a good support system in place and these dumbasses just can’t see that 🙁
I knew the second that it was revealed that Anna had cancer the family would try and monetize it like they do for everything else. Unless Anna decides to share about what she is going through, it truly isn’t their place!
This is so very sad, I feel so bad for Anna and her children. ( I pray she can fully recover)
my mothers cancer spread to her liver and her lungs, unfortunately she passed away, it’s the worse thing to go through watching a loved one try and battle cancer.
As a mother, I bet Anna is very scared to think what will happen to her girls if the worst happens to her. I would be petrified. I wish she fully recovers 🙏🙏🙏
I believe their dad is involved in their lives still. I hope he’s giving them a lot of emotional support during all of this. I don’t know if he ever adopted Katelyn after he married Anna, but I sure hope he did because I’d hate to see those girls separated if (God forbid) they lose their mama and she had to go live with Mama June and Co.
God Bless