Teddi Mellencamp continues to chronicle her fight against stage four cancer, detailing the “highs and lows” of her ongoing health journey.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum’s latest update came when she posted a selfie to Instagram on Tuesday, July 29. After 17 surgeries to get a handle on the spreading disease, Teddi is still finding reasons to be thankful, writing, “Feeling better and not taking it for granted. Which means I’m back to work after taking last week off. And if you know me, that was completely against my instincts. I guess you could call that growth.”
She received an outpouring of love from Bravo and beyond in the comments of her post, with Larsa Pippen of The Real Housewives of Miami and Cynthia Bailey of The Real Housewives of Atlanta being just a few of many to shower her inspiring words with hearts.
That same day, Teddi revealed on The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast that she has a “probably 50-50” chance of survival. “But like, I truly believe this when I say this — and it’s gonna make me emotional — I truly believe that I’m gonna live,” the 44-year-old mother of three shared. “I need to believe it. ‘Cause if not, it’s just too sad.”
“I have to keep fighting,” Teddi added. “I can do this.”
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How Teddi Mellencamp spends her days amid her cancer battle
On the same podcast episode, Teddi admitted that she’s no longer “hopping right up” in the morning to work out or jump-start her kids’ day-to-day activities. As she put it, “I have no routine anymore.”
Suffice to say, her cancer diagnosis was “a big wake-up call that life isn’t perfect,” Teddi added. “[But] you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to show up.”
And that’s what she continues to do — especially for the sake of her kids, Slate Arroyave, 12, Cruz Arroyave, 10, and Dove Arroyave, 5, all of whom she shares with estranged yet supportive husband Edwin Arroyave. As Teddi put it, “I would say a lot of my energy, it goes to belief.”
How Teddi Mellencamp’s dad, John Cougar Mellencamp, is supporting her in her cancer battle
In her podcast conversation, Teddi also credited her father, famed rock singer John Cougar Mellencamp, for doing things she “wouldn’t be capable of doing.”
“He has been beyond,” she said. “With all of these medical treatments and everything. He has stepped in, he’s helped me have a nurse … he calls me every single day. He makes sure that I’m okay.”
Teddi also values an important lesson that she said her father taught her: “It’s OK to have an emotional day.”
Get more details on Teddi’s cancer battle, including the latest on her treatment plan.
