Mama June reveals Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell refused to make child custody plans amid cancer battle

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Mama June Shannon and her third daughter Lauryn 'Pumpkin' Efird become emotional in the upcoming episode of 'Mama June: Family Crisis'.

The mother-daughter pair tearfully talk about Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell's struggle to accept her impending death during her cancer battle in Entertainment Tonight's exclusive sneak peek footage.

Anna died from adrenal cancer at the age of 29 on December 9, 2023. Before Anna passed away from cancer, Lauryn was supposedly concerned about her elder sister.

Anna Cardwell found it difficult to process her cancer diagnosis

According to OK! Magazine, the most recent season of 'Mama June: Family Crisis' teased an episode where Lauryn brought lasagna for Anna, depicting her final days before dying.

In a preview for the next episode of 'Mama June: Family Crisis,' the 44-year-old said to Lauryn, "I think Anna just gets so wound up."

"I tried to ask the doctor her time frame, and then she cut him off. She was like, 'Oh, I've heard one, five and 10 years.' He looked at her and said, 'You're not going to make it 10 years. You're not going to make it five years'."

"She is not living in reality at all, Mama. She does not realize she's going to die. I think she knows she's going to die, but..."

Mama June provided the following explanation as Lauryn starts to ramble: "She doesn't want to face it."

Lauryn, 24, said, "But she needs to, Mama, though."

Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell refused to make child custody arrangements

Subsequently, the two talked about Anna's unwillingness to make custody arrangements for her two daughters, Kaitlyn and Kylee, who don't have the same father.

June acknowledged that she tried to get life insurance for Anna and the children, but she was unable to do it without some legal paperwork that her oldest daughter had not yet handed her.

"I'm kind of shocked that Mama's even looking into life insurance policies for the girls and for Anna, but honestly, I think that's very important, because the girls are top priority," Lauryn confessed in a moment of candor.

She told the cameras, "Anna's husband Eldridge isn't even the biological father of the two kids."

"Kylee, her dad is still in the picture, so legally he would get custody of her. But with Kaitlyn, she doesn't have a dad around or in the picture at all, so it's like, where is she going to go?"

Kylee, 8, lives with her biological father Michael Cardwell. Additionally, he is battling for custody of 11-year-old Kaitlyn, whose father, Caleb Clark, has not been present in her life, per OK! Magazine.

Lauryn returned to Mama June's conversation saying, "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."

Mama June concurred, saying to her daughter, "She's in the reality that Eldridge, just because they're married, he's going to get the rights, but that's not the case..."

"She says she wants Eldridge to adopt Kaitlyn, but when that time comes and Eldridge says something about it, she kind of hesitates. If you don't want Eldridge to [do it] and you want me or Pumpkin..." June continued.

Lauryn stated: "This is Anna's fight that we're all helping her out with. I can't sign Kaitlyn over to nobody. You can't sign Kaitlyn over to nobody. It's the fight that Anna needs to continue to f**king fight."

In January 2023, Anna received a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and died in December.

Mama June told Entertainment Tonight at the time that she knew her daughter wouldn't make it, months before Anna died away.