Indiana remains home, even when home is a battleground. Musician John Mellencamp, 74, recently revealed he’s been urging his daughter, Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave, to return to his home state as she continues to navigate a challenging cancer journey.
A Father’s Plea Amidst a Stage IV Diagnosis
Mellencamp expressed his desire for his daughter and her family to relocate to Indiana for support during her ongoing health struggles.
- Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave was initially diagnosed with Stage 2 melanoma in March 2022.
- In April 2025, her cancer progressed to Stage IV, spreading to her brain and lungs.
- Despite positive responses to immunotherapy, Teddi experiences significant side effects.
- John Mellencamp wants his daughter to move back to Indiana to be closer to family.
“I said, ‘Move back to Indiana, bring the kids and just come back and live in Indiana,’ but she won’t do it,” Mellencamp shared during an appearance on “Today.” The musician’s concern stems from his daughter’s ongoing battle with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer.
Teddi first publicly disclosed her Stage 2 melanoma diagnosis in March 2022. By April 2025, the cancer had progressed to Stage IV, with tumors spreading to her brain and lungs. She underwent surgery to remove brain tumors, discovering additional growths during the procedure.
John Mellencamp wants his daughter to move back home to Indiana amid her cancer battle. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for JM)
Teddi has openly shared her treatment journey, including immunotherapy, on social media and her podcast, “Two T’s in a Pod.” In April 2025, she announced positive results from a scan, revealing that her brain and lung tumors had significantly decreased in size. “I just finished with all my scans, and my tumors have significantly shrunk, which doctors believe means that this all will work and that I will be back to myself and feeling good,” she said.
“I said, ‘Move back to Indiana, bring the kids and just come back and live in Indiana,’ but she won’t do it.”
Despite the encouraging news, John Mellencamp described his daughter’s experience as “suffering.” He explained that Teddi experiences fluctuations in her health, feeling well until undergoing immunotherapy, after which she feels “like hell for about four days” before returning to a more normal state.
John Mellencamp said Teddi is still “suffering.” (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
“You can’t say you’re cancer-free with the type of cancer she’s got for three years,” Mellencamp explained. “So she has lesions in her brain, it went from her back, just a little, teeny spot on her. Over the last couple years it grew, and it got inside her brain and her lungs.”
Mellencamp also discussed Teddi’s health on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, describing the situation as “not f—ing fun” and acknowledging that she is currently “suffering.”
During a podcast episode in April 2025, Teddi revealed that her father had repeatedly urged her to finalize her will and make arrangements for her burial. “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,’” Teddi recounted. “He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.'”
Teddi shared that her dad urged her to finalize her burial plans last April. (Presley Ann/Getty Images for Alliance for Women in Media Foundation)
