Anna Cardwell.Photo:Anna Cardwell/Instagram;
Anna Cardwell/Instagram;
Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell“never wanted to know” how much time she had left while fighting cancer, her husbandEldridge Toneyreveals.
Cardwell wasdiagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinomain January. Toney tells PEOPLE that the reality star, whodiedon Saturday at age 29, tried to stay strong during her battle rather than focusing on the possibility of not surviving the disease.
“At first, what we thought was kidney stones was actually a mass but we were told it was stage 2 and she was clear," Toney recalls of her diagnosis. “When the doctor in Atlanta called us on a video chat and said it was stage 4, my stomach dropped but I did my best to keep calm for Anna.”
“But Anna did her best to stay strong,” he continues. “She was super strong for her family. She was in so much pain all the time, and we knew what the stage 4 diagnosis meant but we agreed not to talk to the doctor about an exact time frame. We agreed we did not want to be told she has six months or something like that. But there was a realistic factor.”
“We knew time was limited but we agreed and asked the doctor to not give us a time,” Toney adds. “We never wanted to know.”
Anna Cardwell and Eldridge Toney.Anna Cardwell Instagram
Anna Cardwell Instagram
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Toney, whomarried Cardwellin March after she learned of her cancer diagnosis, says he supported his wife nonstop while she was going through chemotherapy.
Cardwell was being treated in Atlanta — a far drive from where they lived in Milledgeville, Georgia. With her chemo often happening in consecutive days, Toney frequently had to make the difficult decision to be away from his wife in order to work and support their family.
After months of treatment, Toney said he was “holding her hand when she took her final breath.”
Anna Cardwell with her kids Kaitlyn and Kylee and Eldridge Toney.Anna Cardwell Facebook
Anna Cardwell Facebook
Cardwell’s motherMama June Shannonconfirmed theToddlers & TiarasandHere Comes Honey Boo Boostar’s death Sunday onInstagram.
“With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 is no longer with us. She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM,” Shannon, 44, wrote next to a family photograph. The family matriarch noted that Cardwell “passed away with her family around her” and thanked fans for their “continued prayers and thoughts.”
Cardwell’s family and friends gathered Wednesday forher funeralat theWilliams-White Columns Funeral Homein Gordon, Georgia.
source: people.com
