Teddi Mellencamp shared her emotional reaction to a fan’s comment about the reality star’s likeliness of surviving her battle with cancer.
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, 43, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in February, revealed Wednesday that her doctors recently found four more tumors in her brain. Mellencamp previously shared that her melanoma had metastasized to her brain and lungs.
On Thursday, Mellencamp posted a screenshot featuring a comment from a fan, which read, “This is so heartbreaking. Typically, stage four cancer is terminal especially with metastasis. Praying that Teddi heals and is an outlier.”
“These kind of comments make me really sad,” the mother of three wrote on the post she shared on her Instagram Story.
“I know people are trying to help but heart breaking for me to read,” she continued. “Of course I know the chances but I truly believe with my whole heart I will beat this and watch my kids graduate.”
‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR TEDDI MELLENCAMP HOSPITALIZED WITH MULTIPLE TUMORS ON HER BRAIN
Mellencamp, who is the daughter of rock icon John Mellancamp, shares daughters Slate, 12, and Dove, 5, and son Cruz, 10, with her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave. In November, Mellencamp filed for divorce from Arroyave after 13 years of marriage.
In her post, the TV personality went on to joke that she was also fighting to stay alive so that she could “vent” on her “The Two Ts in a Pod” podcast and “annoy my siblings by reminding everyone I am the favorite.”
During an interview with Us Weekly published on Tuesday, Mellencamp shared that doctors had discovered the additional tumors after she underwent emergency brain surgery last month.
Mellencamp, who has been battling skin cancer since 2022, told the outlet that she was in the fight of her life. However, she said she is determined to remain positive for her family, friends and herself.
“I’m fighting for my life,” Mellencamp told the outlet. “But also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”
In February, after medication became ineffective for her migraines and Mellencamp began feeling severe pain, she rushed to an emergency room with Arroyave.
“The pain had become something I’d never felt before,” she said. “They diagnosed me with multiple brain tumors, but the [ER doctor] says he can’t take them out; they’ve got to get me into Cedars-Sinai [hospital].
“And I’m like, ‘Can’t you get me in tonight? I want to go tonight.’ I had six brain tumors and two lung tumors; they all came from melanoma that metastasized into these tumors inside of my body.”
Her “RHOBH” co-star, Kyle Richards, made a few phone calls to get her into a hospital immediately.
“Kyle saved the day,” Mellencamp said. “I believe it was within 24 hours that an incredible surgeon was able to remove four tumors from my brain. I didn’t know they had been there for six months to a year, and we had no idea.”
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Mellencamp began radiation and immunotherapy treatment immediately after her surgery, which took a toll on her body.
“I thought I was going to feel like how I felt after my neck lift,” she said. “My reaction is always a headache, and I found out that’s good news because it means that the immunotherapy or the radiation is killing your cancer.”
In a post on her Instagram Sory Wednesday, Mellencamp said after undergoing both radiation and immunotherapy the day before that she felt “so tired and run down, but I know it’s going to get better again.”
“Something that everyone can keep in mind … I kind of thought that I’d already beaten it, and then, a couple days later, I found out I had four more tumors. So, there are so many different highs and lows, and yeah, but I’ve learned a lot.”
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Mellencamp also shared that her famous father calls to check in on her every day.
“Some days, I’m not in the mood. I don’t want a pep talk,” she said. “[I tell him], ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’ll be more pep talk-ready, but I love you.’”
Mellencamp said that John, who survived a heart attack when he was 36, has also given her advice on coping with her health struggles.
“I remember his life completely changing,” Mellencamp said of the “Jack & Diane” singer. “And some of the moments [when] I felt really scared, I was like, ‘Hold on. I’m not changing everything about my life. I want more things. I want to keep building.’
“But he’s like, ‘There are moments where you emotionally won’t be able to control how you’re feeling because of a certain medication or a certain whatever. And you have to give yourself some grace and know this isn’t you sometimes. And that’s OK.’”
