“Mama June” Shannon shares an update on her eldest daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell‘cancer diagnosis.
The ‘Mama June: From Not to Hot’ star told Entertainment Tonight that Cardwell, 28, who was diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma, recently completed four rounds of chemotherapy.
“She’s actually doing pretty well,” Shannon said. “She handles it pretty well.”
The reality star told ET her daughter’s diagnosis was at stage 4, describing her condition as “terminal.”
Two of Shannon’s youngest daughters, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, 23, and Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, 17, agreed Cardwell tolerated chemotherapy well.
“A lot of people thought it was going to make her sick and stuff like that, (but) she’s able to bounce back pretty quickly,” Efird told ET, adding that the chemo caused Cardwell to lose her hair on her head and arms. .
“She can still get groceries, she can drive herself, she’s still able to take the kids to and from places,” she added of her older sister, who is a mother to daughters, Kaitlyn, 10, and Kylee, 7.
Thompson told ET that the chemo “sometimes wears out (Cardwell’s) body, but other than that, she’s doing pretty well.”
The family said Kaitlyn knew her mother had been diagnosed with cancer, but did not understand how serious her condition was. “I think she understands that mom is sick and mom might not be around for a while,” Efird said. “She’s 10, but she’s a lot more mature than that because she was raised with older people.”
With her chemotherapy completed, Cardwell must now decide what to do next, the family said.
“She just wants to see how it’s going to go,” Shannon explained. “We don’t know what to expect because the cancer is very aggressive and it went from nothing to something huge on the left side of her body very quickly.”
The worried mum continued, “For me, sometimes it’s an emotional rollercoaster. Mentally, it’s always in my head.”
“She’s in stage 4. She won’t go into remission,” Shannon added. “We all accepted that, so I just tell people one day at a time because you never know.”
The family’s health update on Cardwell comes two months after Shannon confirmed to ET that her daughter had been diagnosed with a “very rare and very aggressive” form of cancer.
According to Shannon, Cardwell first noticed something was wrong in August 2022. She sought treatment for back pain at a hospital, where doctors removed a cyst. After that, Shannon said, her daughter’s health deteriorated.
The TLC star told ET that by the time Cardwell was diagnosed, the cancer had spread to her liver, spleen and lungs.
“There are days when I don’t know (whether) to scream or get angry or be happy,” Shannon said. “As a mother, we have had discussions that you don’t want to have with your child. We know what the endgame is and we are prepared for it. You are never prepared, but we know what could happen.
Later in May, Cardwell shared an update on her health on Instagram.
“Well moving on to round 3 of chemo. Yesterday was pretty good day but there was a bit and Cracker Barrel was good going down but not going up,” she wrote to side of a selfie with her boyfriend Eldridge Toney.
The mum-of-two added: “But overall it’s going well and the chemo is working, we just found out, so things are going well.”
This article originally appeared on TODAY.com