Teddi Mellencamp has credited her musician dad John Mellencamp with "saving" her life as she battles cancer.

The reality TV star, 44. was diagnosed with stage two melanoma in 2022 which later progressed to stage four after spreading to her lungs and brain and she has since undergone multiple surgeries -- including the removal of 17 melanoma spots and four brain tumours -- and been receiving immunotherapy.

She touched on her health battle during a moving tribute to her dad as she handed him the Music Icon Award at the 2026 iHeart Radio Music Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night (27.03.26) revealing he has been supporting her through her cancer treatments.

She said: "Tonight we celebrate the career of my dad, John Mellencamp. But before I tell you the story of John Mellencamp, the artist, I want to tell you the story of him as a father. He's being honored as an icon, a legend, a hitmaker, but to me he'll always be 'dad'.

"Growing up with a rock star for a father ...In my eyes, it was no different than anybody else. He gave me advice, he'd give me groundings, he would love on me."

Teddi went on to talk about her health crisis, saying: "For me, [dad's song] Longest Days has been the song that means the most.

"In it he sings: 'But nothing lasts forever / Your best efforts don't always pay / Sometimes when you get sick, you don't get better / That's when life is short, even at its longest days'.

"Because it was a little over a year ago when I got sick, my life felt short even when the days in the hospital seemed to go on forever ...

"He stepped up, took control, fought for me, and pretty much changed my life, saved my life. Oh, we're celebrating the icon, the artist, a man the whole world knows as John Mellencamp. A man I get to call dad, and my best friend."

The 74-year-old rocker previously revealed he'd urged his daughter to "move back to Indiana" from America's West Coast so she could be closer to him while she's battling cancer.

However, Teddi insisted on staying in Encino, California, with her daughters Slate, 12, and Dove, five, and 11 year old son Cruz - whom she has with her estranged 48-year-old husband, TV star Edwin Arroyave.

Appearing on NBC's Today show in January, John explained: "I'm going to go out and see her. I've tried to talk her into moving back home.

"I said, 'Move back to Indiana, bring the kids and just come back and live in Indiana,' but she won't do it."

John also updated viewers on how Teddi was doing. The Jack and Diane singer said: "You can't say you're cancer-free with the type of cancer she's got for three years.

"So she has lesions in her brain, it went from her back - just a little, teeny spot on her - and over the last couple years, it grew, and it got inside her brain and her lungs." John noted that Teddi "has good days" and "feels good" until she undergoes immunotherapy. The musician said that his daughter "feels like hell for about four days" before she starts "feeling normal again".