UPDATE: New reports are revealing that Mama June’s oldest daughter, Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell has lost her battle with cancer.
Five months after her latest cancer update, Mama June has told her followers on Instagram that her 29-year-old daughter, Anna, is “no longer with us.”
With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 is no longer with us,” she began the caption of her post alongside a family photograph. “She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM. She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months she passed away with her family around her like she won’t and we will be updating y’all with more information as we get it today. We love y’all and continued prayers and thoughts for our family doing this difficult time.”
Anna’s youngest sister, Honey Boo Boo, has also issued a statement of her own as well on Instagram:
This is one post I wish I didn’t have to make ???? Last night we all surrounded Anna with love & let her know it was okay to go. Unfortunately around 11pm Anna took her last breathe. Anna was in so much pain last night but now as a family we all know she is at peace now. I really don’t know what to say as my heart is completely broken. Watching my 29-year-old sister this last year battle this horrible disease hasn’t been easy. Anna was a fighter & still is.
Lord, please wrap your arms around her 2 babies & our family as the next couple of days will make this all a reality ????. I’m so glad that you waited til i was home to take your last breath! I would’ve loved for you to get to see me graduate college but i know you will forever cheer me on in heaven! We will all make sure your legacy lives on forever. And i promise to always make sure to celebrate our birthday like you never left! The sky looks a little bit different today. We will always love you Anna ????. You hit me hard with his one Anna but i know your in a better place now and pain free forever!”
Mama June Shannon recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight to talk about how her 28-year-old daughter, Anna Cardwell, is doing now that she has completed four rounds of chemotherapy. Cardwell revealed in March that she was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.
During the interview, Mama June said her daughter was ‘doing pretty good’ and ‘handling it pretty good’ since finishing chemo. “A lot of people thought that it was gonna make her sick and stuff like that, [but] she’s able to bounce back pretty quick,” June said – adding that the family is taking it one day at a time.
As for what’s next, Anna Cardwell is currently trying to decide whether she wants to move forward with clinical trials or immune therapy – there’s a chance she moves forward with neither. According to her mother, Anna ‘just wants to see how it’s gonna go’ – though they fully accept that the disease is terminal.
Mama June Shannon was accompanied by her three other daughters – Jessica ‘Chubbs’ Shannon, 26, Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird, 23, and Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson, 17. Lauryn and Alana agreed that their sister is doing ‘pretty good,’ but Alana added that chemo ‘does wear her body down sometimes.’
“She can still go to the grocery store, she can drive herself, she’s still able to take the kids to and from places,” Lauryn explained – adding that she “doesn’t have hair, she has no eyebrows, she doesn’t have any hair on her arms or anything like that.” She also discussed how Anna’s two children are handling it.
While Anna’s 10-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, is aware of the diagnosis and knows that ‘Mommy is sick,’, she’s still a little too young to fully understand what’s going on. Mama June added that Kaitlyn has rarely left her mother’s side since the diagnosis and likely understands her mother won’t be here much longer.
You can watch the interview in full below:
“She’s 10, but she’s a lot more mature than that because she’s been raised around older people,” Lauryn said of Kaitlyn. Meanwhile, Anna’s 7-year-old daughter – Kylee – knows her mother is sick, but doesn’t exactly understand the extent of the illness. Still, the family embraces every moment they have together.
Mama June Shannon Isn’t Giving Up Hope
Mama June Shannon emphasized that, while the family has accepted the fact that Anna Cardwell won’t go into remission, they aren’t giving up hope for a new treatment or potential cure. They take things one day at a time, but hope modern-day technology can provide a miracle for cancer patients everywhere.
“Honestly, who’s not to say a year from now they’ll have a cure. The medical field is growing every single day. There’s always something,” Mama June Shannon said. “Think about how quick they came out with a COVID vaccine and things like that. I truly believe eventually there will be a cure for some kind of cancer.”
Meanwhile, Alana hopes her sister can continue to fight this disease – something we all know she’s capable of, though it won’t come easy. “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,” Honey Boo Boo said in the interview.
Over the past couple of months, Anna Cardwell has been open about her journey since discovering her cancer diagnosis and throughout the chemotherapy process – she posts video updates on TikTok regularly (when she’s feeling up to it, of course). We’re wishing her all the best moving forward!