Teddi Mellencamp’s Cancer Battle: ‘I’m Fighting for My Life’

US Weekly

Transcript

00:00I would say I'm fighting for my life but also for my family's life and all the people I love's life.

00:04I can't imagine going, I can't imagine, does it sound, now I sound like a narcissist,

00:12I can't imagine any of them living without me.

00:21I'm not a huge complainer to people in my life, I just kind of push through

00:26and I had the person that probably hurt it the most was my daughter Slate because we

00:31ride together and I'd be like gosh I have a headache and then probably about three weeks

00:38before we ended up finding out what was going on I had I had self-diagnosed myself that I was

00:44having migraines so I went to one of my best friends at the horse show and I'm like Akul

00:49please help me I know you have migraine medication and I took it and it actually didn't help and I

00:55was like shaking and feeling crazy and so then kind of the next step was then I went to work

01:03for a brand at the Super Bowl and afterwards Tamra's like you want to go out I'm like I don't

01:11think I can like I really don't feel that like I have really bad headaches so I made it through

01:17that weekend got home did the podcast on Monday and then Tuesday I probably have never called

01:24and sick to the pod to two teas in a pod and on Tuesday I called and I'm like guys I don't think

01:30I can do the pod today like something is really wrong and at that point it was pretty dark in my

01:39head like I could not see so I'm like laying like on my couch my kids are already at school and I'm

01:47like I can't see I don't know what to do and I called Edwin and I'm like at this point we weren't

01:53living together we were nesting so I'm like I'm so sorry can you come pick me up I need to go to

01:58the hospital and he's like why I haven't heard one thing about you need I'm like I can't see

02:05and something is going on and then he came and took me to the emergency room in Tarzana

02:14yeah so that was that portion and then you know you you wait a little while in the emergency room

02:20and I have to say thank you so much to Edwin because at this point I was so edgy because the

02:26pain had become something I had never felt before and in the emergency room is where they diagnosed

02:35me with multiple brain tumors cut to we call Kyle and we're like how we get into Cedars

02:45and she called around and found a way for us to get in she's like but you need to get there by

02:50nine o'clock and I'm like it's 8 22 and we're in Tarzana so I had to just check myself right out

02:58at the Tarzana hospital and I tell the doctor I'm like I'm so appreciative to you but my friend got

03:02me and he's like but I couldn't get you in yet are you sure you can get in I'm like yes I just

03:06have to be there by nine so not only did I really realize that my brain tumors were a big deal

03:13or that I was having brain surgery I didn't really realize it was happening the next day

03:19because it happened quick and I also didn't know that they had been there

03:23for six months to a year and we had no idea like my little headaches just kept getting worse and

03:29worse and worse but I thought oh they're just headaches I work a lot or I didn't drink enough

03:33water or whatever it may be it was once my body started like almost falling down is when I knew

03:39like that's not me like I may be clumsy but I don't fall down so because they were only able to

03:46surgically remove four of the tumors I still have two tumors in my brain that were not in a place

03:54that they were able to remove surgically and I have one in each lung so very I'm very lucky that

04:04we have doctors that the doctor here is one of the ones that like came up with the immunotherapy

04:11so with immunotherapy you get it every three weeks because it hits you hard so I've had my

04:17first treatment of immunotherapy and then today I think was my sixth treatment of radiation so

04:24the radiation goes for my brain and then the immunotherapy kind of goes for everything but

04:30I only have to do seven or eight days total of radiation and the immunotherapy is every three

04:36weeks. I find out for sure June 1st exactly where we kind of stand and if you need to do another

04:46round if there's any other kind of surgery if it's the end you know like it's a hard pill to

04:54swallow but I find out June 1st. I would say this is definitely the hardest thing but now it feels

05:02less hard when I was in the ICU was incredibly difficult because I had no memory and I didn't

05:08know what was happening to me and I remember I couldn't remember the dates any day and then

05:16but one day I did realize because one of my friends had helped me she'd written down the date

05:20and she's like when Claire comes in here it is I was like great but then I realized as I was

05:26looking at it was my daughter's birthday and I like couldn't be there for it and it was really

05:32sad and still right now it's sad when I can't be there for my kids the way I would always normally

05:38be. I'm so over it already but because they had to put these you know the little

05:46drains and I had these holes in my hair and so that's why we ended up shaving it but it then

05:52became news to me as post radiation you lose chunks of your hair anyway so I'm gonna have to

05:57do a second shave but Cruz made it a little better because he's like mom we can get all the same hair

06:04cuts and I'm like that's so great for you it's terrible news for me great news for you buddy.

06:10I don't think when Vanessa shaved my head I cared that much

06:15but something that hit me really hard was the first time when I went to go work out

06:20and like I'm sitting there bald and my entire like body and everything looks completely different

06:25because the steroids really affect you and I tried to run and I couldn't and that's when everything

06:32was like oh my gosh Teddy you are no longer where you were you couldn't you can't just jump

06:39right back into this you have to slowly work your way up and that was pretty devastating me I was

06:44you know at Barry's boot camp like crying and the poor guy's like looking at me like you good I'm

06:49like no. It actually happened between Edwin and my dad not me I was already in a place to not have

06:57that conversation and to be perfectly honest I was not expecting my entire family to be out here

07:02within like 24 hours so like by the time I was out of my brain surgery where they removed the

07:13four tumors like all my brothers and sisters and my dad and like everybody was there

07:21allegedly I saw the photos don't remember but I'm just so grateful that they made the effort and

07:30like my dad hates LA so the fact that he was out here for 18 days like that's a lot I think my dad

07:37has always known who I am like no matter what things have gone down in my life because we've

07:43had a lot of good and bad things in the press and whatnot but I think he's proud because he gets to

07:52see some of himself and me knowing that like he really did teach me to fight to always no matter

08:00what it is to like fight to be my best fight for myself fight for the people I love and um I mean

08:09he calls every day to check on me some days I'm like I'm not in the mood I don't want a pep talk

08:15I'll talk to you tomorrow I'll be more pep talk ready um but I love you the wild thing is my dad

08:22had a heart attack when he was 36 years old and he had three years where he couldn't like he wasn't

08:29in the business anymore he went to painting and I remember his life completely changing at that time

08:35and it's something he shared and some of the moments I felt really scared and I was like hold

08:40on no no I'm not changing everything about my life I'm getting I want more jobs I want more

08:45things like I want to keep building but he's he's like there are moments where you emotionally

08:51won't be able to control how you're feeling because of a certain medication or a certain

08:55whatever and you have to give yourself some grace and know that like this isn't you sometimes

09:03and that's okay uh I would say the first thing is just the regular stuff back to normal

09:10um I would say the second thing is complacency to me kind of kills my joy so I want to like try

09:20new things do new things travel more with the kids keep building a life and just doing you

09:27know the best that we can and have fun together I think that's my goal my only you know advice is

09:35nobody else can tell you how to feel only you can do that so if you are feeling like you can do

09:43something trust yourself go do it if you're feeling like you can't don't but not anytime

09:50I've listened to somebody completely try to dictate what is the right thing to do is when I feel the

09:56worst.

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