Loretta Lynn‘s daughter Clara Marie Lynn, better known as Cissie, underwent surgery on Monday (Feb. 12) as part of her treatment for a recent cancer recurrence.
The late country legend’s social media page shared a photo of the mother and daughter pair, as well as a call for prayer from followers and fans of the Lynn family.
“Today, Loretta’s daughter Cissie is undergoing a critical surgery in her battle against a recently recurring cancer,” the post explains. “Your prayers for Cissie and her family would mean so much to us.”
On her own social media, Cissie provided an update on her health and cancer recurrence, explaining that it had been 10 years since she last faced the disease.
“That’s a blessing,” she writes, but adds, “this one is [worse] than the other, also it is [in] my mouth.”
She admits that she was feeling “emotional and scared” as she headed into surgery, and cautioned her followers that she might not have the emotional bandwidth to give regular updates.
“If you don’t mind, would you please say a prayer for me if you can [find] it in your heart,” she continues. “God how I wish my sweet mama could just hold me tonight …Thank you all for your love and kindness to me all these years and if I ever did anything to hurt [any one] of you, please forgive me I never meant to [ever] hurt a single soul in my life.”
“God bless you all, love Cissie,” she concludes.
Cissie Lynn, who is 71 years old, was the third child born to Lynn and her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn. Cissie inherited her mother’s musical talents and enjoyed a country music career early on in life: According to People, she opened for stars like Mel McDaniel, George Jones and Conway Twitty.
In 2011, Cissie and her then-husband John Beams released a joint album full of Loretta Lynn hits called The Daughter of the Coal Miner’s Daughter; the elder Lynn herself served as producer.
In recent years, Cissie has primarily stayed out of the spotlight, though she’s still an active participant in maintaining her mother’s legacy. Her Facebook page indicates that she is involved in managing the Lynn ranch estate.
Cissie is the second of the younger Lynn generation to experience serious health concerns in recent weeks: The singer’s son Ernest had surgery to address his kidney failure last month; his wife Crystal kept followers posted on his recovery. Though it initially appeared that the surgery had not been a success, Ernest subsequently began to improve — a development that Crystal credited to prayer and the couple’s close relationship with their faith.
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes