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A former “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star rebuked negative comments from social media followers and vowed to fight the recent escalation of her skin cancer diagnosis.
Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave, 43, told Us Weekly this week that she has stage 4 cancer, and one of her fans posted that “stage 4 cancer is terminal especially with metastasis.” In response, Mellancamp said, “Of course I know the chances but I truly believe with my whole heart, I will beat this and watch my kids graduate.”
Mellencamp has two children with her husband, Edwin Arroyava, whom she married in 2011. In addition to being a cast member on three seasons of “Real Housewives” until 2020, she is the daughter of Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Cougar Mellencamp.
“This is definitely the hardest thing, but now it feels less hard,” Mellencamp said in an Instagram reel on April 2.
Stage 4, according to Medical News Today, is a critical stage of cancer that’s also referred to as metastatic cancer because it has spread to other parts of a patient’s body, while melanoma is a type of cancer that affects the skin.
On an iHeart podcast, Arroyava recounted to his co-host Edwin Judge his experience receiving a phone call from his wife six months ago, talking about losing her eyesight.
Judge is the husband of Tamra Judge, a current cast member of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”
“She couldn’t see…wow…and I immediately got frightened because she had been complaining about having headaches for the last two weeks,” Arroyava said on the April 3 “The Eds” episode.
As previously reported in The Epoch Times, scans revealed that Mellencamp had brain tumors, which were surgically removed on Feb. 12.
Then, in March, Mellencamp further posted on social media that she has multiple tumors in her brain that could not be surgically removed and that she has two tumors in her lungs, indicating that the melanoma had spread to other parts of her body.
Wearing a yellow t-shirt, Mellencamp disclosed in an April 3 Instagram story that her last day of radiation was scheduled for last week, but four more tumors were recently discovered.
“So, it’s a pretty big day,” she said. “Today is supposed to be my last day of radiation. I have a good feeling it’s working.”
Mellencamp was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2022. She urged US Weekly readers to get life insurance early and discussed the possibility that the end of her life is near.
“I find out for sure exactly where we stand on June 1,” she said in an April 2 post. “If you need to do another round, if there’s any other surgery, if it’s the end. It’s a hard pill to swallow. Well, a little PSA: Get life insurance early… and do your will. Doing all of those things once you’ve already been diagnosed with cancer isn’t a dream. That’s really hard. Hopefully you never get sick, but do it before you get sick. My dad came, all my siblings, friends from all over the country.”
Mellencamp did not respond to requests for comment.
Juliette Fairley is a freelance reporter for The Epoch Times and NTD and a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Born in Chateauroux, France, and raised outside of Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Juliette is a well-adjusted military brat. She has written for many publications across the country. Send Juliette story ideas at [email protected]
