Very sad news came from the world of reality television this week.
According to the cable network personality’s daughter-in-law, Rebecca Schmucker, Mary Schmucker — a former TLC reality star who is often referred to as “Mama” — has been moved to hospice care amid her ongoing cancer battle.
Rebecca shared a photo of Mary via Instagram on Wednesday, November 13 and made an appeal to Breaking Amish fans… also asking for well-wishes while providing an unfortunate update on Mary’s condition.
“I’m asking for a prayer request for mom,” Rebecca wrote as a caption at the time.
“She has not been feeling well for the last few weeks and is not able to keep anything down and is having trouble eating. He is currently in Dharamshala. He is in a lot of pain and they are helping him.
“If you can, fill her with positive messages and pray for her to be comfortable and pain free. Thank you.”
Schmucker appeared in both Breaking Amish and Return to Amish with son Abe and daughter-in-law Rebecca.
She was initially a recurring cast member, although she remained on the show after Abe and Rebecca left as she became a big fan-favorite.
So there were a lot of sad comments this week on Rebecca’s Instagram photo and associated statement.
“Keep up the courage! Keeping you in the light and wishing you a speedy recovery,” one follower wrote, while another said:
“Stay strong. The world is praying for you. We love you.”
On March 10, 2022, Marie confirmed that she was leaving Breaking Amish after several seasons.
“I’m not coming back to TV, but a lot of other people went back. I would love to come back to TV, but there are so many issues that it just won’t work for me,” the Pennsylvania native said then.
“I would like to come back, but come back the way we are doing now. I think we should make a story like what happened after the show, where we are now and what happened to us, so that people know, but they don’t want to do that.
A month later, Mary announced that she was going to have colon cancer surgery.
While the procedure went smoothly, Mary’s condition later worsened, as Schmucker noted in the summer of 2022.
“When I had my surgery, they said he had all the cancer. Two weeks later they called me and said, ‘You have to come immediately.'” Mary wrote on Facebook about two and a half years ago.
“Now they tell me, I have stage three cancer, almost stage four. Chemo won’t help at stage four. So, why should I do chemotherapy? But I’m not taking their word for it; “I’m going to get a second opinion.”
We can’t say for sure what that second opinion came up with, but we will keep Mary Schmucker and her loved ones in our prayers.