Mama June Shannon Shares Details About Daughter Anna's Mindset Before Death
June 'Mama June' Shannon; Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell
In the newest episode of Mama June: Family Crisis, June "Mama June" Shannon shed light on her daughter Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell's mindset in the months before her death.
Cardwell was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer in January 2023, and tragically passed away less than a year later the following December. She was just 29.
During the Friday, Feb. 23 episode of her reality show—filmed shortly after Cardwell received her diagnosis—Shannon spoke with her daughter Lauryn "Pumpkin" Efird about their fears that Anna had not accepted what her future would hold.
"She is not living in reality at all. She does not realize she’s going to die," Efird, 24, said of her older sister, whom Shannon said had a hard time understanding the doctor when he told her she wouldn't survive another five or 10 years.
"She doesn’t want to face it," Shannon added.
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Shannon also explained that Cardwell slowed down the process of looking into life insurance policies for her children by refusing to hand over their identification documents to her mom, who planned to become the legal guardians of her daughters Kaitlyn, 11, and Kylee, 8.
"The cancer part wouldn’t be so bad if she would just fix the stuff that needs to be fixed, get her affairs in order, and then we’d all be able to just hang out and worry about spending time with her," Efird stated during Friday's episode.
Ultimately, Cardwell lost her battle with cancer in December 2023, after giving "one hell of a fight for 10 months," her family said when announcing the news of her death.
"She passed away with her family around her like she [wanted]," the family announced on Instagram at the time.
Last month, Shannon was granted temporary custody of Cardwell's two daughters.
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