Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson is Shannon’s youngest daughter. She is now 17. She also has three big sisters who also made appearances on the reality shows, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, who is now 23, Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, who is now 26, and the oldest sister, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, who is currently 28 years old.
After complaining about stomach aches for awhile, Cardwell went to the hospital for some tests. That’s when she was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma. Doctors found cancer in her liver, kidney and lung.
In February, Cardwell had her first round of chemotherapy treatments. She has already lost her hair due to chemotherapy, but doctors are waiting to see how she responds to the treatment otherwise before scheduling future treatments. Even though the diagnosis is quite serious, Cardwell’s family is “very hopeful” that she’ll make a full recovery.
Cardwell has not always been on the best terms with her family. In 2003, Cardwell moved out of her mother’s house and moved in with her grandmother. Cardwell had been sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend at the time, a registered sex offender named Mark McDaniel. Cardwell claimed the inappropriate touching started when she was just 8 years old. She also claims that when she told her mother what happened, her mother responded by saying, “I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, why would you do this to me?”
@annamarie35 via InstagramIn 2012, Cardwell moved back in with her mother explaining, “Me and Mama realized we needed to put this behind us and get our relationship back on track and that’s what we did and that’s what we have been doing.”
Cardwell has two children of her own, both daughters. Her oldest, Kaitlyn is 10 years old, and her youngest, Kylee, is 7 years old. Both of her children are from her previous marriage to Michael Cardwell. Her family has been helping take care of Kaitlyn and Kylee during this time.
Cardwell is not married, but she is in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, a man named Eldridge Toney. They have been Instagram official since 2019.
Just two days ago, ahead of the public release of her diagnosis, Cardwell posted a selfie on Instagram. She didn’t mention anything about her health issues just acknowledging that it has been awhile since she posted. She wrote, “Your girl is back sorry for the photo dump that’s going to happen hahah I love y’all and I hope y’all hope y’all are having a good week.”
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Cardwell’s followers have been flooding the comments with get well soon wishes.
