Mama June revealed her daughter Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’s ‘biggest fear’ about her death – amid Chickadee’s final decline with cancer.
Chickadee succumbed to her illness this past December, and allowed reality TV cameras to capture her on her deathbed in her final hours.
Now the episodes of Mama June: Family Crisis that documented her last months are finally airing – including this week’s heartrending broadcast.
June was seen moving Chickadee in with her to undergo at-home hospice care, after immunotherapy and radiation failed to stop the cancer’s progress.
In a devastating confessional, June, 44, told the audience about the anxieties Chickadee harbored about the way she might die.
Mama June (pictured) revealed her daughter Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell ‘s ‘biggest fear’ about her death – amid Chickadee’s final decline with cancer
Chickadee (pictured) succumbed to her illness this past December, and allowed reality TV cameras to capture her on her deathbed in her final hours
I know that Anna’s biggest fear is going to sleep at night and passing away in her sleep,’ said Mama June, whose full name is June Shannon.
June and her new husband Justin Stroud – whom she met while in rehab for her past drug addiction – stayed with Chicakdee at her house at night to give her company.
‘Throughout the night, Anna was calling me, panicking, messaging the doctors. She hadn’t slept in days,’ the devastated mother disclosed.
Chickadee and her daughters Kaitlyn, 11, and Kylee, eight, eventually arrived at June’s house, brought by Chickadee’s husband Eldridge Toney.
‘She wanted me first thing this morning to call hospice, and that’s what I did,’ said June. ‘I moved mountains to get the doctors to finally sign off on hospice and I think that was the best decision that she made.’
Chickadee had reached the conclusion that ‘her body is tired’ and all she wanted now was to ‘live out the rest of her days with her family.’
June said: ‘There’s noise, you know, it’s what Anna wanted. She wanted to be around family, and we’re giving her what she wants, and that’s how it’s gonna be.’
Although June and one of her other daughters Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird, have been carrying on an explosive feud, they put it to one side for Chickadee.
Now the episodes of Mama June: Family Crisis that documented her last months are finally airing – including this week’s heartrending broadcast
June was seen moving Chickadee in with her to undergo at-home hospice care, after immunotherapy and radiation failed to stop the cancer’s progress
In a devastating confessional, June, 44, told the audience about the anxieties Chickadee harbored about the way she might die
I know that Anna’s biggest fear is going to sleep at night and passing away in her sleep,’ said Mama June, whose full name is June Shannon
June and her new husband Justin Stroud – whom she met while in rehab for her past drug addiction – stayed with Chicakdee at her house at night to give her company
Although June and one of her other daughters Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird, have been carrying on an explosive feud, they put it to one side for Chickadee
The patient wanted her family to be together at her side while she died, so Pumpkin and June put their enmity on the backburner to honor her request.
After Chickadee died, insiders told TMZ the last three weeks of her life, which she spent in hospice, would be shown on the TV series with Chickadee’s approval.
Evidently Chickadee wanted to help viewers understand the experiences of cancer patients, and consequently kept the camera crew with her into her final hours.
However the team behind the reality show declined to film her death and will not shoot her funeral, in the interests of allowing the family to grieve privately.
