Originally appeared on E! Online
Hayley Erbert is taking steps toward healing.
Derek Hough shared that his wife is on the mend after getting an emergency surgery on her skull due to a burst blood vessel.
"Hayley has always inspired me with her will, her strength, and her resilience and no more so than in the last 48 hrs," the "Dancing With the Stars" judge wrote on Instagram Dec. 8. "She is now on the long road of recovery."
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Hough, 38, thanked fans for sending kind messages amid Erbert's health challenges.
"Words cannot express how grateful and thankful we are for the support and love that you have given us," he continued. "The kindness that we've been shown in this incredibly unfathomable, and life changing time is immeasurable."
He said many people have reached out to try to help the 29-year-old, calling the offers "so humbling and appreciated."
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"Our hope is that as a family," Hough added, "we can somehow and someway pay it forward."
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Erbert's health took a turn for the worse following the couple's Dec. 6 "Symphony of Dance" tour performance in Washington, D.C. The dancer was transported to the hospital after appearing "disoriented."
"She was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma from a burst blood vessel," Hough wrote on social media Dec. 7, "and required an emergency craniectomy."
He said Erbert was in stable condition following the procedure, in which part of a patient's skull is removed to reduce pressure on the brain caused by the bleeding.
In the hours after the surgery, Hough's sister Julianne Hough also spoke out to ask for prayers for her sister-in-law.
"Please pray and send all your love, healing and light to Hayley and Derek," the "Dancing With the Stars" cohost wrote on her Instagram Story. "Thank you from the depths of our families hearts!"
