Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell, half-sister to Honey Boo Boo, dies at 29 after battle with adrenal cancer
Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, daughter of reality-TV star “Mama June” Shannon, has died at 29 after battling adrenal cancer.
Cardwell died peacefully in her mother’s home late Saturday night, Shannon announced in an Instagram post Sunday.
“She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months she passed away with her family around her,” she wrote in the caption of a family photo, adding, “We love y’all and continued prayers and thoughts for our family during this difficult time.”
The news comes days after Shannon shared a video to Instagram updating followers on Cardwell’s situation.
“Some things have changed in our lives over the last few weeks that are totally out of our control,” she said in the video, noting that Cardwell was “still with us” at the time and that this would be her last message. “When that time does come, we will also as a family come to y’all on social media because Anna would not have it any f—ing other way.”
Shannon had told Entertainment Tonight in July that Cardwell had been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer and that she had undergone four rounds of chemotherapy by the time of the interview.
“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 told ET, adding that the family had accepted the cancer was terminal and was now taking it “one day at a time.”
In the last update she shared on TikTok one month ago, Cardwell said her recent radiation treatment went better than she expected and that she was also going through autoimmune therapy.
Cardwell is survived by her two young daughters, Kaitlyn and Kylee.
She was the eldest daughter of the Shannon family, known for their appearances across multiple reality-TV shows. She was a half-sister to Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird and Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson.
She first appeared with her family in “Toddlers & Tiaras” and later starred in “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”
Thompson wrote in an Instagram post Sunday that the family “surrounded Anna with love” during her final moments.
“Anna was in so much pain last night but now as a family we all know she is at peace now,” she wrote in the caption. “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.”