Teddi Mellencamp has revealed that she will need to have surgery again after discovering “another melanoma” spot on her back.
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, who has opened up to fans over the past year about her skin cancer battle, shared her latest health update in an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday.
Mellencamp uploaded a teary-eyed selfie and a picture of her back, drawing an arrow to highlight her most recent melanoma spot next to post-surgery scars from past melanoma removals.
“I have been debating whether I should even publicly talk about this or not but then I remember how every time I post about skin cancer someone else is reminded to get checked,” she began in the lengthy caption.
The 42-year-old shared, “I found out late yesterday afternoon that the most recent spot biopsied is another melanoma.”
She said that has lost count and is unsure if this is the 12th or 13th melanoma she has discovered on her body.
“At this point, I am starting to black-out these memories like a portion of my childhood,” she wrote. “I slept maybe 2 hours last night because my mind was racing.”
Despite a rough night, Mellencamp said she was “grateful” to receive the diagnosis during her three-month checkup because her doctor caught the spot “early.”
Now, Mellencamp will need to have another surgery and more biopsies to remove the skin cancer.
“As I lay here with tears in my eyes and worry, I know my kids will be up soon. I have a podcast at 10. Life goes on,” she continued.
But, she is trying to stay optimistic. She said she keeps repeating an uplifting mantra to herself: “We can do hard things.”
She also encouraged her followers to have the same positive mindset.
“I am posting this to hold myself accountable to doing the same,” she said, adding that she planned to grab a notepad and pen to write down what she is grateful for and what she is looking forward to.
“We have got this. Love to you all. We are not alone,” she concluded. She included the hashtag “#skincancerawareness” at the end of the post.
The wellness coach had her first skin cancer scare in March 2022. She shared a photo on Instagram of a large bandage on her shoulder, a close–up of her suspected melanoma and a graphic picture of her post-surgery incision.
In the post, Mellencamp recalled former “RHOBH” co-star Kyle Richards noticing a mark on her back and driving her to the hospital. She said doctors immediately removed the unusually discolored mole.
Months later, Mellencamp announced that she was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma during a follow-up appointment.
She mentioned not taking care of her skin in the past. As a teenager, she used to put on baby oil and iodine to tan, she shared. She also said she never wore sunscreen and only started checking the moles on her body when she turned 40.
“Despite my anxiety, I listened to the doctors and went in for my 3-month skin check last week since my previous melanoma,” she wrote on Instagram last October. “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 called the moment a “wakeup call.”
A week later, she shared more images of her moles and said her doctors believed she was “predisposed to melanomas” after conducting a positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
By the end of October, Mellencamp had completed her first surgery to remove several melanomas.
“I had lymph nodes that lit up so they were also removed and additional biopsies are being done,” she informed her followers at the time.
In December, she reflected on her “eye-opening” health scare.
“So I say peace out to 11 melanomas and 3 lymph nodes— I gladly hardly knew ya— and hello to a new sense of peace. It’s been eye-opening how quickly things can change and it’s a lesson I will never forget, nor quit speaking up about,” she wrote.
She said she hoped that her scars encouraged her fans to prioritize their health.
