Teddi Mellencamp Opens Up About Stage IV Melanoma Treatment: What Is Immunotherapy?

Teddi Mellencamp has shared a sobering update on her health. 

On April 2, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said in an emotional Instagram video that she now has stage IV cancer. Mellencamp was diagnosed with melanoma in 2022, which has since spread to her lungs and her brain. 

“I kinda thought that I had already beaten it,” she said (via People). “And then a couple days later, I found out I had four more tumors. So there’s so many different highs and lows.” 

The ‘RHOBH’ alum is receiving immunotherapy and radiation 

The Bravo personality has been receiving both radiation and immunotherapy. The treatments have left her feeling “tired and rundown.” But she is trying to maintain a positive outlook, saying that the interventions were “hopefully saving my life.” 

“I’m just thinking about all the goals that I have for the future for myself and for my kids,” the RHOBH star said. 

Radiation therapy is sometimes used to treat melanoma that has spread to the brain or other areas of the body, according to the American Cancer Society. 

The treatment uses “specific types of radiation directed to specific areas of the body to ablate tumors in that location,” Michael K. Wong, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Physician in Chief at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, explained to Showbiz Cheat Sheet in an email. “Immunotherapy is a group of therapies that work by triggering the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer.”

Melanoma accounts for just a small fraction of all skin cancers. But it causes the majority of skin cancer deaths, notes the ACS. However, researchers have made progress in developing drugs to treat melanoma in recent years, Wong said. 

“Melanoma is one of the most prolific areas of oncology drug development, and an area where we’ve seen dramatic improvements in the variety and effectiveness of treatments,” he explained. “There have been at least seven new drug indications FDA-approved for the immunotherapy of melanoma over the past 10 years that together are helping lead to long-term remissions and good quality of life for many people with melanoma.”

Melanoma causes and warning signs 

Mellencamp has said she was stunned when she got her melanoma diagnosis, in part because the cancer did not run in her family. But she had a history of sun exposure when she was a teen. She learned that “the damage we do to our skin when we’re younger can catch up to us.”

Wong also pointed to sun exposure as a major skin cancer risk factor.  

Melanoma can have different causes, but “by far the most common and most important consideration is excessive exposure to UV light. This is most often from sun exposure,” he said. 

Avoiding the sun can help reduce the risk of developing the disease. 

“Sunscreen lotions can help reduce exposure, but I tell my melanoma patients that nothing is better than covering up. That can be long sleeves, pants and especially a hat,” Wong explained. 

Wong added that changes in a person’s skin can be a warning sign of cancer. In an essay for the Melanoma Research Foundation, Mellencamp said she downplayed the significance of a strange mole on her back. However, her friend and fellow RHOBH cast member Kyle Richards insisted that she get it checked. It was then Mellencamp learned she had cancer. 

“Most, but not all, melanomas arise from a pigmented skin lesion or mole,” Wong said. “Pay attention to a skin lesion that is changing. This could be a change in size, in pigmentation or in appearance. You know your skin best, so the most important thing is to bring it to the attention of your doctor.”

A melanoma diagnosis can be frightening. But Wong said that the outlook is not always grim. 

“The prognosis for an individual person is determined by a multitude of individual factors,” he said. “That said, melanoma is a diagnosis with a multitude of pathways to cure and many good reasons to stay hopeful.”

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