Derick Dillard’s Mom Cathy Wrote a Book About Surviving Cancer — and Israel Made the Cover

Overcoming obstacles. Derick Dillard’s mom, Cathy Dillard Byrum, wrote an inspiring book about surviving cancer, titled I Shall Not Die: My Walk Through the Valley of Death, and her grandson Israel is featured on the cover. Derick’s wife, Jill Duggar, posted a photo of the novel over the weekend and also shared a heartwarming message to show support to her mother-in-law.

“Look what we just got! 👏🏼🙌🏻 @cldilla My MIL’s new book! ❤️ Many of you have asked how she is doing … this book shares her journey with cancer,” the 28-year-old captioned her post.

Cathy’s book is about how her life was turned upside down back in 2014. Her youngest son, Dan, just scored a job after graduating college. Meanwhile, her oldest son, Derick, 30, just got back home from a long-term overseas trip and had just popped the question to Jill. It was at that time that Cathy discovered she had stage 4 cancer ⁠— more specifically, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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In the synopsis, it shares more details about Cathy’s experience, “including details about treatment, losing her hair, an emergency ride on a helicopter and a stem cell transplant.” Cathy also writes about “how she stayed strong through the grace of God and the love of her family and friends,” even revealing what it took for her to make it to Derick’s wedding in June 2014. The purpose of her book is to inspire others facing serious “adversity” in their lives.

Cathy also took to Instagram with a message about her book, and she celebrated her son Derick reaching a new milestone with his wife. “Happy 5 year anniversary to Derick and Jill this week,” she began. “After sharing so many of the stories over these 5 years, I finally put pen to paper and have the whole story start to finish. Plus the (mostly) wonderful things that have happened since! For anyone who needs encouragement in a cancer battle. Or any other kind of battle.”

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