Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell ‘Never Wanted to Know’ How Much Time Doctors Thought She Had Left (Exclusive)

Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell “never wanted to know” how much time she had left while battling cancer, her husband Eldridge Toney has revealed.

Cardwell was diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer in January. Toney tells PEOPLE that the reality star, who died Saturday at age 29, tried to stay strong during her battle instead of focusing on the possibility that she might not survive the disease.

“At first, what we thought were 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 via video chat and said she was stage 4, my stomach dropped, but I did my best to stay calm for Anna’s sake.”

“But Anna did her best to stay strong,” he continues. “She was super strong for her family. She was in a lot of pain all the time and we knew what a stage 4 diagnosis meant, but we agreed not to talk to the doctor about the exact time frame. We agreed that we didn’t want to be told she was six months old or anything like that. But there was a real factor.”

“We knew time was limited, but we agreed and asked the doctor not to give us time,” adds Toney. “We never wanted to know.”

Anne ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’s sister Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird shares touching family photo from early days of chemotherapy

Anna Cardwell and Eldridge Toney.

Anna Cardwell’s Instagram

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Toney, who married Cardwell in March after she learned of her cancer diagnosis, says he has supported his wife around the clock as she went through chemotherapy.

Cardwell received treatment in Atlanta – far from where they lived in Milledgeville, Georgia. With her chemotherapy often running on consecutive days, Toney often had to make the difficult decision to be away from his wife in order to work and support their family.

“I tried to be there as much as I could, but we both agreed the bills had to be paid and I had to work,” Toney says. “But when she called me, I would drop what I was doing and drive to be with her. Even if it meant leaving at 3am and getting to work by 6am.”

“There were times when she was scared and I stayed with her in the hospital,” he adds. “That meant leaving my job, without pay, because I didn’t want her to be alone. I would do it again. I wish I had never left her. But we agreed that I have to work because the bills keep coming.”

After months of treatment, Toney said he “held her hand when she took her last breath.”

Anna Cardwell with her children Kaitlyn and Kylee and Eldridge Toney.

Anna Cardwell Facebook

Anne ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’s husband recalls her last breath: ‘I was holding her hand’ (Exclusive)

Cardwell’s mother Mama June Shannon confirmed Little children and tiaras and Here comes Honey Boo Boo star’s death on Sunday on Instagram.

“It is with a broken heart that we announce that @annamarie35 is no longer with us. She passed away peacefully at my home last night at 11:12 p.m.,” Shannon, 44, wrote alongside a family photo. The family matriarch noted that Cardwell “passed away with her family around her” and thanked fans for their “constant prayers and thoughts.”

Cardwell’s family and friends gathered for her funeral Wednesday at Williams-White Columns Funeral Home in Gordon, Georgia.

After her death, Toney told PEOPLE that he vowed to his wife that he would cherish her memory for the sake of her daughters — Kaitlyn Elizabeth, born in 2012, and Kylee Madison, born in 2015.

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Source: HIS Education