Jill Duggar Says Derick Dillard Almost Died, Addresses Concerns That He Is Seriously Ill

Jill Duggar, her husband Derick Dillard, and their toddler son, Israel, will be returning home to Arkansas soon after spending almost a year in El Salvador. According to Jill, it’s a miracle that all three members of her family are coming back to film Counting On — she believes that she and Israel came dangerously close to losing Derick during their family’s long-term mission trip.

On Thursday, Jill Duggar’s family revealed that Jill and her husband will be returning home in the very near future. In honor of James Duggar’s 15th birthday, the Duggars shared a post on their Facebook page informing fans that James and the other members of his “buddy team,” Joy-Anna and Jennifer, were looking forward to being reunited with their old team leader. As Michelle Duggar explains in one of her TLC blog posts, the older members of buddy teams are in charge of parenting the younger kids placed in their groups.

Jill Duggar’s buddy team days are over now that she’s married with a child of her own to take care of, and her only household helper is her husband. However, according to the latest mission trip update on the Dillard Family website, this almost changed in the worst possible way; Jill Duggar got dangerously close to losing Derick Dillard during a storm.

As Jill recounts, Derick was walking home during a thunderstorm when a friend stopped to chat with him.

“A minute or so later while they were still talking a little ways from the house, a bolt of lightning hit the tree next to our house! The blast startled everyone around (Israel and I were in the house) and knocked our friend, who Derick was talking with, off his feet! We were talking later with some of our friends and realized that had this friend not stopped Derick to talk with him, Derick could’ve been walking through water as he headed to our house and could’ve been electrocuted by the lightening [sic] through the water on the ground.”

Jill Duggar believes that God is responsible for saving her husband from being electrocuted.

Many fans of the Duggars are worried about Derick Dillard’s well-being, but not because they fear that he’s going to get burnt to a crisp while walking outside during an electrical storm. As the Inquisitr previously reported, a large number of Jill Duggar’s Instagram followers expressed concern about Derick’s health after Jill shared a photo of her husband looking much thinner than he used to.

Derick Dillard Photo SHOCK Duggar Nation: Is This Dude Alright?! https://t.co/UiqddGAapI

— The Hollywood Gossip (@THGossip) July 6, 2016

Jill reassured fans that she and Derick aren’t taking their health for granted, and she wrote that she and her family members have not had to battle any serious diseases. However, she did admit that she and Derick have fallen ill a few times.

“Derick and I are generally very healthy people, but when you’re eating, drinking and living in a different place than the one you grew up in, it’s not uncommon to come down with the ‘traveler’s stuff’ or other bacteria/viruses in the local jungle area. No, we haven’t had Zika that we know of, but both of us have been laid out for a few days here and there, thankfully not both at the same time though.”

As Us Weekly reports, there have been calls for Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard to return home because of the spread of the Zika virus in Central America. The mosquito-borne illness can cause severe birth defects in babies, and fans of the Duggar family fear that Jill and Derick are taking no precautions to avoid pregnancy during their mission trip. Because of their religious beliefs, they are against using birth control.

Jill and Derick will be returning home for the first time in 10 months sometime this month, but their stay probably won’t be a permanent. Near the end of her mission trip update, Jill Duggar revealed that she and Derick Dillard will only be in the states “for a little while.” Jill also plugged Chick-fil-A, which is one of the Duggar family’s favorite restaurants. Jill loves the fast food chain so much that she once expressed a belief that there will be Chick-fil-A in heaven.

“We are looking forward to being home with family (and Chick-fil-A ? and plan to take some Bible classes and be involved in local ministry while we’re there.”

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard’s return home will likely be filmed for the Duggar family’s TLC series Counting On, which is set to premiere sometime later this summer. The upcoming season will also focus on Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo’s courtship.

[Image via Duggar Family/Facebook]