“Mama June” Shannon described life as a “emotional roller coaster” after learning that her daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell has terminal cancer.
“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,” Shannon, 43, said on “Entertainment Tonight” Wednesday, noting that Cardwell, 28, had four rounds of chemotherapy.
“A lot of people thought that [the treatment] was going to make her sick and stuff like that,” said the “Mama June: Family Crisis” star’s daughter Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, “but she’s able to bounce back pretty quick.”
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, Efird’s younger sister, adding, “It does wear her body down sometimes, but other than that, she’s pretty good.”
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Cardwell, according to Efird, “can still go to the grocery store, she can drive herself [and] she can still take the kids to and from places.”
![](https://radiantmedia.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/mama-junes-daughter-anna-cardwell-673604359.webp)
According to Efird, the mother of two “doesn’t have hair, she has no brows, and she doesn’t have any hair on her arms or anything like that.”
Efird also provided an update on her older sister’s daughters, Kaitlyn, ten, and Kylee, seven.
“We don’t know what to expect because the cancer is very aggressive,” she said.
“The 10-year-old understands. “I don’t think she fully comprehends,” she admitted.
“I believe she understands that Mommy is ill and that Mommy may be gone for some time.” She’s ten, but she’s much more mature than that because she was raised with older people.”
“Kaitlyn was always close with Anna, but now she doesn’t go anywhere without Anna,” Shannon added. I understand because she is concerned that if Anna goes somewhere, she might not return to the house.”
According to her mother, Cardwell’s next treatment choices include immunotherapy or clinical trials.
![](https://radiantmedia.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/0_Anna-Cardwell-1.webp)
“She just wants to see how it’s going to go,” the “Toddlers & Tiaras” alum added, adding that it’s “scary” not knowing “what’s going to happen next.”
“Sometimes it’s an emotional roller coaster for me.” It’s always on my thoughts mentally. “We know it’s terminal,” Shannon family matriarch Shannon continued.
“She’s in the fourth stage.” She’s not going to be cured. We’ve all accepted it, so I just urge folks to take things one day at a time, because you never know.”
“She’s pretty good,” Thompson commented.
Meanwhile, Efird expressed optimism that new medicines would become accessible.
“Honestly, who’s to say they won’t have a cure in a year?” “Every day, the medical field expands,” she observed.
Thompson, 17, is also hoping that her sister will continue to fight.
![](https://radiantmedia.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MK-ANNA-CARDWELL-BREAKER-COMP-2.webp)
“It’s crazy to think she won’t be here in five years, but I’m hoping she can pull through and fight for 10, 20, years,” she said.
Cardwell was diagnosed with the cancer in January, according to June, who is also the mother of Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, 26.
A few months later, she moved to Georgia with her husband, Justin Stroud, to care for her unwell daughter.
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