Teddi Mellencamp praised his father, John Mellencamp, as the legendary singer accepted the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Thursday.
“My dad has been an incredible person throughout this journey,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, who has been battling cancer since 2022, exclusively told Page Six at an event in Los Angeles, adding, “He almost saved my life.”
She added that the “Jack & Diane” hitmaker, 74, “swooped in” to help his famous daughter despite living in Indiana.
“He was in the hospital with me for months, taking care of me at my bedside,” she said.
Bravolebrity said her father’s concern “shows who he is as a person.”
“He doesn’t do anything by halves,” she gushed. “That’s why I think there’s no one better suited to receive the Icon Award than my father.”
The 44-year-old reality TV personality echoed those sentiments as he took to the stage to present John with the Icon Award on Thursday.
“‘The Longest Days’ is the song that means the most to me,” she said in a tearful eulogy, referring to her father’s 2008 hit.
“On it, he sings: ‘But nothing lasts forever/The best efforts don’t always pay off/Sometimes you get sick and don’t get better/That’s when life is short, even on the longest days.'”
“When I got sick a little over a year ago, my life felt short, even though the days in the hospital seemed to last forever,” she told the audience, adding, “Sometimes getting sick doesn’t make you better.”
“He wasn’t going to let those lyrics define my life,” she continued, adding that John “stepped up, took charge, fought for me and almost changed my life. He saved my life.”
“We celebrate John Mellencamp, an icon, an artist, and a man the world knows. The man I call ‘Dad’ and my best friend.”
John then handed Teddy the lifetime achievement trophy and said, “I’m going to take this award and give it to Teddy, so it’s yours.”
Teddy first revealed his Stage 2 melanoma diagnosis in October 2022, and has since undergone more than a dozen surgeries, including an emergency surgery to remove multiple tumors in his brain in 2025, as the disease metastasized and spread to his lungs.
In October, she said her cancer was gone, but it could be years before doctors officially label her in remission.
Teddy’s father, who adopted him along with his ex-wife Victoria Granucci, has been supportive throughout.
In January, he revealed that TV star Joe Rogan was “struggling” with his illness and called him “not funny” on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Also in January, the rocker told “Today” show viewers that he was “trying to convince” him to move from his home in Los Angeles to Indiana so he could care for her full-time. But at the time he said she “wouldn’t do that.”
Instead, her devoted father told her to “go (to California) and see him.”
