‘I thought I was going to pass out!’ Dancer Derek Hough surprises local woman at her house with help from his cousin

IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls woman who has been feeling down and struggling for the past few months got a surprise of a lifetime over the weekend thanks to her neighbor and a famous professional dancer.

Jami Wright is married with three kids she says are her miracle babies. Wright wanted to have a large family with her husband, James, but recently learned infertility issues won’t allow it.

“It’s been a dark, hard time. Going through the grieving process of all of it just has been hard. Just knowing that we are done with our family and just moving forward — it’s been a lot,” she told EastIdahoNews.com.

Her neighbor, Jake Heaton, wanted to cheer her up. Wright is a big fan of Derek Hough, who is Heaton’s cousin. Hough is a professional dancer who had a Las Vegas residency show and has been featured as a judge and contestant on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

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“My husband told me that Jake is cousins with him. So when I ran into Jake in the hall at church, I said, ‘Jake…I heard a rumor. Is it true? Are you related to Derek Hough?’ He said, ‘Yeah, he’s my cousin.’ I was like, ‘Stop it! He is my favorite!'” Wright says.

Heaton said if Hough ever came to town, he’d try to arrange a meeting. When Heaton and his wife went to Hough’s show in Las Vegas a few months ago, he asked if Hough would record a video for Wright.

“Jake sent me a video from Derek saying, ‘Jami, what’s up? Why aren’t you here? Come to Vegas, come to my show!'” Wright said.

On Saturday, Hough was in town when Wright received a surprise knock on her door.

“It was a sad reason as to why everybody was here. Our grandpa passed away. But at the same time, he lived a great life. We had a good time. I told Derek, ‘Hey we need to go see Jami,'” Heaton explained to EastIdahoNews.com. “He said, ‘Let’s go surprise her!'”

Heaton called Wright and asked if he and his wife could stop by for a visit. She agreed and said she had no reason to believe it was anything more than her neighbor coming over to say hi.

“Jake and his wife came to the door and then I see a camera and I was like, ‘What is going on?’ And then Derek just kind of popped behind a corner…I screamed really, really loud and was just completely surprised!” she said. “I thought I was going to pass out! I couldn’t believe it.”

Wright invited Hough inside and they began chatting.

“I haven’t been here in Idaho Falls since I was like…a teenager. So it’s been over 20 years. Seeing everybody has been amazing and catching up with everybody,” he told her.

“She was just overjoyed,” Heaton said. “Derek is super genuine. When you talk to him, a lot of these people that are famous, you would think, don’t really want to deal with the average public but he’s really not like that.”

Wright said Hough ended up spending about 20 minutes inside her Idaho Falls home with two of her kids. Her husband and one of their children missed the surprise.

Hough even asked Wright to dance with him. She said she does not know how to dance but Hough taught her some moves. They talked and laughed and Wright’s son asked for Hough’s autograph.

“He kind of made himself at home. It was like talking to a friend. He was normal and so caring and giving. Just for him and Jake to leave the day of the funeral for 20 to 30 minutes to come to visit someone, which is just so selfless and kind, I just can’t get over that part,” Wright said.

Hough also played on the family’s piano while Wright smiled and watched.

Heaton said he was glad he could help and his cousin could too.

“For me personally, that made my day more than anything. To see how much joy she got out of it. When I am able to orchestrate something like that and truly make a difference in somebody’s life… that brings more joy to me than probably anything,” Heaton said. “I love to make people happy. That’s something I have tried to do my whole life.”

Wright said it was a pick-me-up that she needed.

“Jake told him that I had a hard couple of months…Derek was so on board and so that’s what really touched me,” she said.

Watch the surprise in the video player above.