Teddi Mellencamp has been sharing heartbreaking new details of her brain cancer battle, but at least she can count on the rock solid support of friends, family and former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costars as she braces to fight for her life with everything she’s got.
“Teddi is surrounded by loved ones and everyone is doing their best to follow her lead and stay super positive,” an insider exclusively tells In Touch. “It’s terrifying because of how far along her cancer is, but she’s refusing to give in to the fear and is staying focused on kicking this to the curb and being around to watch her kids grow up.”
The source adds that Teddi, 43, is “very passionate about the power of the mind, and the mind body connection, so she’s staying very focused on the vision of her beating this and overcoming this battle.”
“She’s asked everyone around her to keep that at the forefront of their minds, she doesn’t want to give any oxygen to the fear and worry,” the insider continues. “She’s very lucky to be getting the absolute best care out there, the fight against cancer has come so far so as tough as this is, there is still hope and Teddi is hanging on to that hope with every fiber of her being.”
The source concludes, “She’s the ultimate fighter, she’s not going to give up.”
After being diagnosed with melanoma in 2022, Teddi revealed in February that doctors had found several tumors in her brain and she had to have surgery.
“For the last several weeks I’ve been dealing with severe and debilitating headaches. Yesterday the pain was unbearable and required hospitalization. After a CT scan and MRI, doctors found multiple tumors on my brain, which they believe have been growing for at least 6 months,” she wrote in a statement at the time. “Two of the tumors will be surgically removed today – The remaining smaller tumors will be dealt with via radiation at a later date.”
Just two days after she returned home after the surgery, she returned to the hospital for additional brain scans and five more tumors were found.
The mother of three – who shares kids Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5, with estranged husband Edwin Arroyave – announced on April 2 that she had stage IV cancer. Teddi explained that the cancer had metastasized to her lungs and brain, where the doctors found four additional tumors.
Teddi has made it clear she isn’t alone during her health battle, and she revealed that she might not have discovered her diagnosis if it weren’t for her close friend Kyle Richards.
“I’ve spoken in the past about how my friend Kyle Richards forced me to go to that doctor’s appointment. We were on a run, and she said, ‘Your back looks a little different,’” Teddi said during her speech at the Melanoma Research Foundation’s 23rd Annual New York City Gala in October 2024, which she shared via Instagram.
Teddi continued, “The truth [is] if she hadn’t forced me to go to that appointment, I don’t know that I’d be up here having this conversation right now, but she saved my life. And as someone with a platform, I know I can use my pain to pay it forward to help others avoid theirs.”
