Teddi Mellencamp's diagnosis with melanoma in 2022 was just the beginning of a multi-year cancer journey that's ongoing. The 43-year-old, who previously appeared on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," has been keeping her fans up to date on her health challenges over the last few years. In February 2025, she revealed she needed to undergo surgery to remove several tumors after her melanoma had spread to her lungs and brain. Below, we’re looking back on Mellencamp’s cancer journey and sharing an update on her condition. March 2022: Mellencamp has a suspicious mole removed Mellencamp’s cancer journey began in March 2022 when she took to Instagram to reveal that she’d had a suspicious mole removed. At the time, she said her former co-star Kyle Richards encouraged her to see a dermatologist after spotting the discoloration on her back. “I had been avoiding (my yearly skin check) bc of my own anxiety for a very long time but when @kylerichards18 saw my back and it had changed colors again, she immediately took me to the doc who within minutes said it looks like melanoma and did a big removal,” Mellencamp wrote. October 2022: Mellencamp is diagnosed with melanoma and undergoes surgery Flash forward to October 2022 and Mellencamp announced that she'd been diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma. “Despite my anxiety, I listened to the doctors and went in for my 3-month skin check last week since my previous melanoma. They said I had another abnormal spot near my last one so they did a biopsy. I got the call this morning: Stage 2 melanoma,” she wrote at the time and encouraged her followers to get their annual skin checkup. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma is a “type of skin cancer that develops when melanocytes (the cells that give the skin its tan or brown color) start to grow out of control.” As part of her game plan, Mellencamp revealed that she would be visiting an oncologist to get the spots removed and plan additional testing and biopsies of other spots. One week later, the reality star said she would have to undergo surgery. “I will need wide excision surgery removal and nodal mapping. During the surgery they will also do a sentinel lymph node biopsy,” Mellencamp said. “Because with a PET scan they can’t see if it’s spread to lymph nodes, I am getting 2 more biopsies of new locations today and surgery is on Tuesday.” After Mellencamp underwent a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, her medical team suggested that she may be predisposed to melanomas. Following her surgery, Mellencamp shared a post-surgery picture. "I had melanomas removed. I had lymph nodes that lit up so they were also removed and additional biopsies are being done,” she shared at the time. December 2022: Mellencamp shares an update on her surgery A few months after undergoing surgery, Mellencamp revealed the results of her pathology report. “Pathology is back — the surgeries were successful and the margins are clear,” she shared in an Instagram post. “I also got genetic testing results and there are no mutations we need to worry about.” The reality star said doctors removed 11 melanomas and three lymph nodes in total. “It’s been eye-opening how quickly things can change and it’s a lesson I will never forget, nor quit speaking up about,” Mellencamp wrote. “I want nothing more than for all of you to be proactive so you do not have to experience this.” January 2023: Mellencamp gets three more spots biopsied During a skin checkup in January 2023, Mellencamp's doctor recommended that she get three additional spots biopsied. "I’m getting a lot of questions about the spots being white. I have had both white and brown melanomas; this is why I continue to share to get checked no matter what," she shared on Instagram. Mellencamp went on to explain that she'd found a "bump" on her neck before her appointment and was concerned. "My anxiety, of course, took over. I touched it at least 303 times. However, day of appointment, I assumed it was nothing. And then the ultrasound came back irregular. I had the option of a needle biopsy or getting it cut out completely; the doctor recommended the biopsy to start, however there’s a small chance it’ll come back inconclusive and we will then have to remove it," she wrote. September 2023: Mellencamp reveals that she needs another surgery In September 2023, Mellencamp prepared for surgery after doctors biopsied another spot and discovered another melanoma. "I can’t even remember if this is the 12th or 13th one," the reality star wrote on Instagram at the time. She expressed her gratitude for her medical team, saying they "caught this one early." The same month, Mellencamp said shared some news from her doctor following her wide excision surgery. "Because the area is so broad they no longer feel comfortable cutting. They said I can wait a week so I can show at nationals but upon my return I will start on a 5-week immunotherapy cream," she wrote on Instagram. December 2023: Mellencamp has another surgery Mellencamp learned that the immunotherapy treatment she'd tried wasn't successful and shared an update on her condition in December 2023. "I had a wide excision removal on my most recent melanoma last week to see if it did and sadly it did not," she wrote on Instagram at the time. "I have been presented with a couple new options and I have decided with my doctors that the best next course of action is (to) have surgery on December 26th to remove a larger portion of problematic area." March 2024: Mellencamp shows her surgery scars Three months after her surgery, Mellencamp shared before and after photos of her scar. "What a difference 3 months can make! My scar is healing nicely, and I have the best doctors to thank," she wrote on Instagram at the time. "But in full transparency, also during my three-month checkup, there was one abnormal spot the doctor felt we should biopsy. It’s on the other side of my body, so praying it’s nothing." September 2024: Mellencamp announces 16th melanoma While Mellencamp was undergoing surgery to remove her 16th melanoma, doctors discovered a spot on her ear and biopsied it. "Obviously, I am grateful for my team of doctors who continue to give me the most thorough care. But part of me just wants to scream, 'When will this be over for good!?'" she captioned an Instagram post at the time. December 2024: Mellencamp shares some encouraging news Following a routine three-month skin checkup, Mellencamp happily told her fans that doctors hadn't spotted anything that looked cancerous. "Going in for my continual 3-month skin checks is never easy. The anxiety always takes over; the thought of another biopsy, another surgery, another addition to the scar on my back," she wrote on Instagram. "And I always end up crying. But today the tears were those of joy. Because for the first time there wasn’t anything abnormal, nothing that needed an extra look. And I am grateful." February 2025: Mellencamp undergoes surgery for several brain tumors Mellencamp shared some somber news in February 2025 after she was diagnosed with multiple brain tumors following several weeks of “severe and debilitating headaches.” Doctors discovered multiple brain tumors after a CT scan and MRI and said they may have been growing for at least six months. After undergoing surgery, Mellencamp revealed that doctors had removed "more tumors were removed than expected: 4 in total." “This fight is not over but that round has been won,” Mellencamp wrote on Instagram. March 2025: Mellencamp says she now has tumors in her lung After revealing that doctors had removed several tumors from her brain the prior month, Mellencamp took to Instagram in March 2025 to note that her medical team was still unable to remove "multiple tumors" that remain in her brain. Additionally, she said she has two tumors in her lungs. "These are all metastases of my melanoma. The doctors are hopeful that immunotherapy will effectively treat them," she wrote on Instagram. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma is "much less common than some other types of skin cancers." However, it is "more dangerous because it’s much more likely to spread to other parts of the body if not found and treated early." Per the organization, immunotherapy is a "treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight diseases such as cancer." April 2025: Mellencamp reveals that more tumors were discovered in her brain and her father has planned her burial Mellencamp revealed in an April 2 cover story in Us Weekly that four more brain tumors were discovered in late March during an emergency MRI. “I’m fighting for my life,” she told the publication. “But also for my family’s life and all the people I love.” The same day, Mellencamp thanked her fans for their "kind messages" in a video in her Instagram story that showed her lying in a bed. “You know, I’ve got to tell you, some days I feel really, really strong and some days I feel really, really sad and alone, and I think that’s a normal part of what any of us are going through and that’s OK,” she said. “Stage 4 cancer can be scary." She also revealed it was the first day she'd undergone both immunotherapy and radiation and she felt "tired and run down." "But I know it’s going to get better," she added. On April 10, Mellencamp revealed that her father, musician John Cougar Mellencamp, was making arrangements for his daughter's burial. “Yesterday my dad calls 11 times in a row. Finally, I answer. I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath! Let me live a little, let me enjoy.’ He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum,’” the 43-year-old recalled during an episode of her podcast. “Wait, wait, wait. He did not!” Mellencamp’s co-host, Tamra Judge, said shocked. “Yes, he did,” Mellencamp laughed. Since she was writing her will, her father figured he might as well ask, she said. April 2025: Mellencamp shares a hopeful prognosis after tumors shrink On April 23, 2025, Mellencamp shared that her tumors have “significantly shrunk” and that it seems her treatment is working. The star shared the news in an Instagram video following her scans. “Exciting news, everyone,” she said. “Honestly, the crying was already done, but I just finished with all of my scans, and my tumors have significantly shrunk, which doctors believe means that this all will work, and that I will be back to myself and feeling good.” In her caption she wrote, “One update I couldn’t wait to share! All tumors stage 4 (metastasized melanoma in my brain and lungs) shrunk or disappeared so I have 6ish more weeks of immunotherapy and doctors believe I will be healed if everything stays on course.” “Thank you to everyone who has sent their love, prayers, and positivity.” The following week, Mellencamp made an appearance at the An Unforgettable Evening at The Beverly Hilton event on April 28. The event was held in honor of breast cancer research and hosted by the Women's Cancer Research Fund.
