Reality TV personality Teddi Mellencamp from the show Real Housewives of Beverly Hills shared that she is battling Stage 4 melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that has spread to her lungs and brain.
During a candid conversation with Us Weekly, Mellencamp opened up about learning of her advanced cancer diagnosis in February of this year, following a journey of treatments and surgeries starting from her initial diagnosis in 2022. The distressing news continued as doctors discovered four small brain tumors in late March.
“I’m fighting for my life,” she said, “But also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”
Despite facing the challenges of undergoing cancer treatment, going through a divorce, and being a mother, Mellencamp bravely shared glimpses of how she and her loved ones are coping with these overwhelming circumstances.
“This is definitely the hardest thing [I’ve faced in my life], but now it feels less hard,” she said. “When I was in the ICU, it was incredibly difficult because I had no memory. One day, I realized it was my daughter’s birthday, and I couldn’t be there for it; it was really sad. It’s still sad when I can’t be there for my kids the way I’d normally be.”
Mellencamp has been allegedly preparing her kids for a future without her as her condition worsens, Radar Online reported earlier this week.
Speaking to Us Weekly, said she is “paying for therapy” for her kids, admitting with a laugh, “I’m not equipped to fully handle this… It is helping because they ask me questions that I probably wouldn’t have thought to give them answers to.”
She continued, “They realize when I’m in pain and how massive the surgery was. I don’t know that they know the rest. I think they’re a bit scared. I’m going to fight really hard. I can’t imagine my life without them, so I’m going to do everything I possibly can, no matter how mean it makes me. [Laughs] I can’t imagine — does this sound like a narcissist? — I can’t imagine any of them living without me.”
Mellencamp is already known for her scrappy history on RHOBH, so it’s no surprise that she did not shy away from naming which of her former co-stars have and have not reached out during this difficult time.
“Garcelle [Beauvais] has not reached out. Dorit [Kemsley] has now,” she said, adding that Kemsley sent her a message that “was so nice that I have to say we’ll probably be fine.”
Kyle Richards “has been there nonstop” for Mellencamp and helped her get into Cedars-Sinai on short notice, where she underwent brain surgery within 24 hours. Vicki Gunvalson and Denise Richards have also reached out, she added.
Despite the difficult prognosis, Mellencamp is trying to keep her spirits lifted.
“Some days, I’m really sad and really scared, and some days, I’m like, ‘I got this; I’m not worried,’” she said.
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