'RHOBH' Star Teddi Mellencamp Faces 50% Survival Odds After Brain and Lung Tumor Diagnosis

Former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Teddi Mellencamp said she is not out of the woods after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and given a 50 percent chance of survival.
Mellencamp, 43, opened up on "Nightline" about being diagnosed with several brain tumors back in the spring. While they were removing them, the surgeons found two more in her lungs. For melanoma, she said the cancer had metastasized.
"I learned this isn't the best question to ask if you're doing immunotherapy, because immunotherapy has only been around 10 years," Mellencamp said. "It's one of my favorite things to ask: 'How long I got? What are my chances?' And they oftentimes say 50/50."
Mellencamp admitted the response shook her. "I wouldn't buy a car that's only gonna drive 50% of the time. I don't want this," she recalled telling her doctor, who then explained the figure is tied to how long the treatment has existed, not necessarily her outcome.
A Fight for Her Life
Mellencamp explained that the emotional toll has been significant. "I really like to have control, and this is completely out of my control. And for the first time, I'm really scared,"
When she rushed to the ER back in February, her husband Edwin Arroyave was there by her side despite having a strained relationship. Mellencamp started suffering from pain after her migraines were not improved with medication.
"The pain had become something I'd never felt before," she said. Doctors diagnosed her with six brain tumors and two lung tumors. "They all came from melanoma that metastasized into these tumors inside of my body."
Not long after, she started treatment — radiation and then immunotherapy, both of which have been physically rough. "I thought I was going to feel like how I felt after my neck lift," she joked. "My reaction is always a headache, and I found out that's good news because it means that the immunotherapy or the radiation is killing your cancer."
Support System and Hard Talks
Her dad, singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, has always been there for her in his own way. Mellencamp, during her "Two Ts in a Pod" podcast, recounted what she said was a funny yet sobering experience.
"Yesterday, my dad calls me 11 times in a row. Finally, I answer, I'm like, 'I'm in the bath. Let me live a little,'" she recalled. "He goes, 'I just want to make sure you're going to be in our group family mausoleum.'"
Things turned to logistics almost immediately. "He's like, 'Well, there's going to be the top five and then we're gonna have little areas around it, and then that's where everyone's going to get buried,'" she said. "He goes, 'You're doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.'"
Ultimately, Mellencamp said she agreed, joking, "Someone I met not too long ago inspired me to get 'hot girls never die' put on my tombstone."
Mellencamp said that she's determined to continue going forward despite the dire diagnosis. "I'm fighting for my life," she told Us Weekly. "But also for my family's life and all the people I love."
She shares three children — Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5 — with her ex Andrew from the first marriage.
Mellencamp has been keeping fans updated on her fight through social media and her podcast, doing her best to spread awareness and catch glimmers of light and laughter along the way.
"Something that everyone can keep in mind... I kind of thought that I'd already beaten it, and then, a couple days later, I found out I had four more tumors," she said. "So, there are so many different highs and lows... but I've learned a lot."