Adrenal cancer, the rare but deadly disease that has struck Anna 'Chickadee' ... trends now
Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer, her family announced Thursday.
The 28-year-old 'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' star's cancer has spread from the glands within her stomach into her liver, kidney and lungs. She received a series of tests that discovered cancerous growth after complaints of stomach pains.
Adrenal cancer is a rare but deadly form of the disease, with only a few hundred cases reported in the US annually. Less than one-hundred are suffered in the UK. In two-thirds of cases, it is caught after it has already spread to other organs.
It usually develops when a person is under five years old or between the ages of 40 and 50. This makes Chikadee's case a rarity.
Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell (pictured), 28, has been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer. She received her diagnosis in January and has already started treatment
Ms Cardwell (center) has two daughters. She rose to fame from the 'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' reality television show
If caught early, it can be surgically removed, giving a patient a 50 percent chance of surviving at least five years. Once it spreads, the survival rate drastically falls — dropping to between 10 and 20 percent. Its low prevalence has made it harder to detect as doctors are not regularly screening for it.
'[Adrenal cancer] continues to be a rare malignancy in the United States,' a New York City-based research team wrote in 2018.
'However, most cases continue to be diagnosed only in advanced stages and are associated with poor survival.'
The disease starts in the adrenal glands, small pockets just above
