TEDDI MELLENCAMP FACES MELANOMA 'I'm So Grateful We Caught It in Time'

IN OCTOBER THE RHOBH STAR WAS DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE 2 MELANOMA. NOW SHE'S ENCOURAGING OTHERS TO GET SKIN CHECKS AND PRIORITIZE SUN PROTECTION

- STEPHANIE EMMA PFEFFER

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave had been aware of the "little patches of white" on her back for years but hadn't thought anything of them. Then one day this past March, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star was running with her costar Kyle Richards, who observed that one of the spots had a black dot in the middle of it-and suggested Mellencamp see her dermatologist. Alarmed, Mellencamp booked an appointment that same week. "I'm 99 percent sure this one spot is skin cancer,"" she remembers the doctor telling her. "I told her, 'Just cut it out. I don't care if it doesn't look pretty-get rid of it.'" 

Unfortunately, that turned out to be easier said than done. Just seven months later Mellencamp, 41, was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma. Since then she's had two surgical procedures to remove 11 melanomas (of varying stages and sizes) and three lymph nodes, along with genetic testing-including for the BRCA 1 and 2 genes, because breast cancer runs in her family-to determine whether she's prone to developing additional cancers. By early December, test results revealed that the surgeries were successful and that Mellencamp is cancer-free and not genetically predisposed. "Let my scars be your inspiration," she wrote to her 1 million Instagram followers on Dec. 7, "to get preventative care."