The Shannon family at the heart of the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo series has seen both setbacks and celebrations throughout their time in the public eye. Various stories have shown everything from unfortunate car accidents to Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s early admission to college being reported to the world at large. Unfortunately, the family’s latest update is more severe, as Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell has reportedly been diagnosed with cancer.
Half sister to Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, Cardwell was just revealed by TMZ as having stage 4 adrenal carcinoma. The condition was discovered after the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo co-star had complained of stomach pains, which eventually revealed cancer throughout Anna Cardwell’s body. At the moment she is undergoing chemotherapy, which will determine the next steps for her treatments, which started after her initial complaint this past January.
Through her involvement with the TLC reality franchise centered around her younger half-sister, the world also got to see Anna growing up in her own right. At one point, an eventually cancelled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo spinoff was supposedly going to focus on Ms. Cardwell’s family life. As she had given birth to her eldest daughter Kaitlyn Clark in the show’s first season, Anna and her family life was a natural concept for a potential offshoot from this series, which itself was a spinoff from an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras.
An unfortunate reality is that Anna Cardwell’s association with Here Comes Honey Boo Boo also saw some past traumas coming to light. At one point, the revelation that Cardwell was molested as a child by Mama June’s boyfriend Mack McDaniel threatened to cancel the entire series. That threat was also in reaction to Mama June getting back together with McDaniel during the series’ production, and it ultimately inspired June Shannon to potentially sue TLC if that had come to pass.
As far as Anna's own dealings with the matter, she did eventually give an interview to Dr. Phil discussing the matter. Even in the light of this horrific act, Anna Cardwell has been open to talking about her painful history, showing the inner strength to be able to work through such events.
Despite the rocky history the Shannon family has seen come their way, their support of one another hasn’t wavered in this time of need. Anna’s relations are by her side, helping to care for her and her children as best as possible. If there’s any silver linings to be had in this time of crisis, it’s that Anna Cardwell seems to have a particularly strong support base at home.
At the moment, Cardwell is gearing up to truly fight her battle with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma, and we at CinemaBlend send our best wishes to he and her family during these difficult times. We’ll have to wait and see what information further updates bring, as Anna’s health journey is still in its early stages.
