Mama June Slams Critics of Her Social Media Use amid Daughter Anna's Cancer Fight: 'Hard On All of Us'
“I needed a break from reality for a minute,” Mama June Shannon said of posting on social media while her daughter Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell faces stage 4 adrenal carcinoma cancer
Mama June Shannon is clapping back at anyone who thinks her social media use means she’s not actively supporting her daughter’s cancer journey.
On Monday, the Mama June: Road to Redemption star, 43, posted a video on Instagram and later slammed a commenter who urged her to “worry about” her daughter Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell and be by her side “fighting” cancer with her rather than be on social media.
“Well let me school you just a little bit. We speak almost on a daily basis,” she responded. “This [has] all been hard on all of us and she knows that. If she was really bad off — I mean come on I have common sense — we wouldn’t be going anywhere. I would be right there like we always have every time that she had a chemo treatment.”
“Life doesn’t stop even though some days it feels like I’m living in a dream with all this. It's a daily struggle for me [mentally] and [emotionally] to deal with,” Shannon wrote. “At the end of [the day], there is nothing we can change about the situation. I needed a break from reality for a minute even though it’s in the front of my mind every second of every single day. So me posting on social media doesn’t mean I don’t care or ain’t there for her during this.”
“Until you walk a day in my shoes, you or anyone [don’t] have any idea what I deal with and struggle with,” she ended.
Related: Mama June Says Ozempic Is 'Not for Me,' Responds to Comments About Her Weight Gain
Mama June/Instagram
Shannon has been putting her eldest daughter’s needs first since her cancer journey began. In May, PEOPLE confirmed that she and her husband, Justin Stroud, would soon be leaving Alabama for her native Georgia. While there, they'll be able to help care for Anna amid her battle with cancer.
"We are definitely leaving Alabama. I'm in the process of leaving Alabama now and I'm in the final steps of my legal issues," Stroud, 35, told The US Sun. "So we'll definitely be going back to Georgia."
However, at this time, Shannon said the couple has "split time between Alabama and Georgia."
"And when we come to help Anna and visit, we stay in an Airbnb," she added.
Cardwell, 28, was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma cancer in January. She learned of her diagnosis after undergoing testing for stomach aches. And while Shannon and Cardwell had a strained relationship over the years, the Shannon family matriarch told the outlet that their bond "was actually working before she found out that she had cancer."
"It didn't just all of a sudden miraculously start working like what Anna had cancer, you know, to make that totally clear with everybody," she added.
Cardwell has shared a glimpse into how she's navigating her cancer journey. Ahead of Mother's Day, Cardwell shared a photo with boyfriend Eldridge Toney as she was "going on to round 3 of chemo." She said despite dealing with digestion issues, it was still a "pretty good day."
"Cracker Barrel was good going down but not up 😂," she shared on Instagram. "But overall it's going good and chemo is working we come to find so things are looking good 😇😁😁🙏"
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Shannon recently told PEOPLE that dealing with her daughter's cancer has left her "emotionally drained."
"I don't go live [on TikTok] a lot because of Anna. I'm already emotionally drained because of that," she explained. "I'm not being mean with the emotion... I'm not mentally [or] emotionally prepared to deal with 5,000 people asking me about Anna that day."
"I just have the energy to give to them and answer that a hundred times without crying on TikTok for three hours," she continued. "You don't know whether to scream. You don't know whether to laugh. You don't know whether to holler. You don't know who to blame."
And while Shannon noted that it's also been "mentally draining" for Cardwell, she said her daughter has enjoyed using TikTok as an escape.
"You're asking her that a hundred times, and that's why I know it's mentally draining for her too. They're asking her stuff," she added. "And so for her escape is TikTok but her having 600, 700 people and she's dancing and being goofy. They love that about Anna. They love that. So I'll tell you, go follow Anna. Like on TikTok, like go follow. If she's feeling good, she's mostly on there."
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