Derek Hough Reveals Sister Julianne Moved to D.C. for 2 Weeks to Help amid Wife Hayley's Health Crisis (Exclusive)

Hough tells PEOPLE about the "incredible" ways his family supported him and his wife Hayley Erbert after her emergency brain surgery in December

Derek Hough’s family rallied around him amid his wife Hayley Erbert’s recent health crisis.

The Dancing with the Stars judge, 38, tells PEOPLE exclusively that his family has been “incredible” in the months since Erbert, 27, was rushed to the hospital for an emergency craniectomy during their Symphony of Dance tour stop in Washington, D.C.

“They were some of the first to show up in Washington and stay there and even live with us there,” he says of how his parents and siblings — Sharee, Marabeth, Katherine and Julianne — were on a “rotation” of sorts as they helped care for Erbert and Hough himself in the days that followed the surgery in early December.

“They would come in three days and then the next siblings would come in for the next three days, and then the next siblings,” he recalls of the support system that surrounded them. “My dad showing up the day it all happened, flying from Utah. They really showed up in a really beautiful way.”

Julianne, 35, was particularly present for the couple, who had wed just four months before, as she flew to Washington, D.C. and stayed for “two weeks” to help. “It was just amazing,” Derek says.

It wasn’t just the Hough family that stepped up, though — Erbert’s family, too, were “of course” there for the couple, along with many of their close friends.

Related: Julianne Hough Shares She's Holding Her Family ‘Extra Tight’ After Sister-in-Law Hayley Erbert’s Emergency Craniectomy

The way their inner circles rallied around them was one thing, Derek says, but it was the widespread public support that really touched the couple.

“The thing that really makes us — and really her — the most emotional about all of this is just the love that she felt from not just family and friends, but just from everyone. It's a really beautiful feeling and we're just really thankful for that.”

The experience has put the couple’s wedding vows “to the test, fast,” Derek acknowledges, but he’s utterly in awe of his wife.

“She's incredible. She really is. I double take all the time just seeing the way she's handled this situation with just such elegance and a sense of just accepting it for what it is,” he raves of the fellow dancer, who he’s been with since 2016.

“She's just an unbelievably determined person and has been unbelievably strong through this whole experience,” he adds.

Related: Derek Hough Sets Rescheduled Dance Tour Dates After Wife Hayley’s Medical Scare

Following Erbert’s emergency craniectomy, which Derek announced on Instagram the next day, she went through another life-saving operation — cranioplasty surgery to replace a “large portion of her skull.”

Writing on Instagram at the time, Derek shared that the operation had been successful. “This surgery marks a significant milestone in my wife’s recovery journey, and your support has played a crucial role in getting us here,” he wrote in the lengthy caption. “We are filled with hope and optimism for the future, knowing she is on the path to a full recovery, surrounded by such a loving community.”

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In the two months since, Derek says Erbert has been handling everything with “such grace” as he shared that doctors are “impressed” not only by her “recovery,” but by her “mindset about the whole thing.”

“It's really inspiring,” he tells PEOPLE.

“We've gone through a lot of things in our life and our relationship, and this is another one that just, I guess, proves and even deepens our love for one another and our commitment to each other.”

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