Originally appeared on E! Online
June "Mama June" Shannon is reflecting on a difficult time for her family.
The reality star detailed the last months of her eldest daughter Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell's cancer battle and decision to enter hospice before she died in December at age 29.
"It was difficult watching her have to go through chemo," Shannon told E! News in an exclusive interview. "Having to go through radiation and having to do immunotherapy, and then trying to get into hospice long before we actually could."
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"It wasn't the fact that she was tired of fighting because even to her last day, she fought," the 44-year-old emphasized. "She was a feisty one even during her last days."
But Shannon recognized the emotional and physical toll fighting stage 4 adrenal carcinoma was for Cardwell.
"I think she was just over it," she recalled, "and she just wanted to spend her last days doing what she wanted to do."
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The "Mama June: Family Crisis" star — who is also mom to Jessica Shannon, Lauryn Efrid and Alana Thompson — admitted it was difficult convincing Cardwell's doctors to approve hospice care.
"Watching her try to say, 'Okay, I'm done with treatment, I just want to live the rest of my life the way I want to live it,'" Shannon shared. "They wouldn't listen."
Cardwell — who was mom to Kaitlyn, 11, and Kylee, 8, the latter of whom she shared with ex-Michael Cardwell — continued her pleas until doctors relented.
"She said, 'OK, I'm just not coming back and I want to do home health hospice,' and they finally signed off," Shannon explained. "We tried to for a long time before that."
In January, Shannon and her husband Justin Stroud were granted temporary custody of Kaitlyn, who she said moved in with her a month before Anna died and that she's been caring for her since.
"I tell Kaitlyn all the time, 'I'll never replace your mother,'" she told E! News. "I say this all the time, but Kylee shouldn't have to be raised by Kylee's dad. I shouldn't be raising Kaitlyn. Anna should be here raising her children. It's not fair for any of us that Anna's gone, especially for her children."
