TV KATE Hoping for a miracle
HUSBAND’S FIGHT WITH ‘EVIL’ VIRUS:
KATE Garraway fought back tears as she recounted her husband’s final words: “I love you, you saved my life,” before he was put into an induced coma.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 53, yesterday told TV viewers about Derek Draper’s brave battle with coronavirus.
In her first interview on the subject since her husband was hospitalised, Ms Garraway said it was a “miracle” he was still alive.
She added that she wanted “just one more and he could make that next step.”
The TV star, who has appeared on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Strictly Come Dancing, added: “And it’s not just me by the way, it’s his mum and dad and his sisters and everybody who loves him – all his friends, we’re all going through that.
“And the doctors don’t know because they’ve never seen this before. One doctor said to me that he’s the worst-affected person that he’s had to treat, who’s lived.
“They talk about an evil virus, and it is.”
Former political adviser Derek, 52, who married Kate in 2005, has been in intensive care for nearly 10 weeks after he was taken to hospital on March 30.
Kate told of the last conversation she had with Derek. Speaking from her home in north London she said: “He was very bad, he couldn’t really speak to me.
“He was begging me, he said, ‘I can’t stand this, I feel like I’m suffocating, I can’t take it. Please let them put me in a coma’.”
Doctors eventually put Derek in an induced coma on April 5 after connecting Kate on the phone to have one last conversation with her husband.
Kate said: “He just said, ‘I love you, I’m sorry I have to leave you’.
“I said, ‘It’s only for three or four days. You’re going to be fine, this is good, this is what you wanted and it will allow you to rest’.
He just said, ‘You saved my life’. “I think he thought I persuaded the doctors to put him in the coma. Obviously I hadn’t. He said ‘I don’t just mean now, I mean everything
– being married to you, the children, you saved my life’. “And then I said, ‘I love you’ and the doctors said he’s gone, he’s under, and that was it.” Speaking to her GMB co-hosts Ben Shephard and Ranvir Singh, Kate said Derek had been feeling unwell in the weeks before but put it down to shoulder pain.
He was not exhibiting the main Covid-19 symptoms of a high temperature or persistent cough but after the weekend he said he was struggling to breathe. After not being able to get through on the NHS 111 number, Kate decided to call Good Morning Britain’s resident doctor Hilary Jones.
After doing breathing tests with Derek, Hilary told Kate: “I think you need to call an ambulance.”
Two medics came to the house and conducted a thumb test on Derek – revealing that his oxygen levels were low and he would need to be admitted to hospital. Before he got into the ambulance he told the couple’s children Darcey, 14, and Billy, 10: “You’re the best children any could ever ask for. Look after Mum.”
Kate also told viewers about the emotional toll Derek’s health had taken on her and the children.
Comparing the initial weeks to going into “breaking news mode” she said: “I’ve got a job – my job is to fight for Derek and keep life safe for Darcey and Billy.
“You have to not think about the emotion of it and think about doing your job.” But she admitted: “I think about two weeks ago I probably did crash because you can’t stay like that forever. The problem is I have huge hope and massive positivity and will never give up on that because Derek is the core of my life.
“But I have absolute uncertainty and the doctors don’t know because they have never seen this before. One doctor said to me he’s the worst affected person he’s had to treat that has lived – thank God he’s lived so far.” Speaking about Derek’s current condition, Kate said: “He’s still with us and has fought the most extraordinary battle.The fact that he is still here, I
am so grateful. He is very sick... it has affected him from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes.
“Looking at the positives he is now Covid-free so he is testing negative, so the fight with the virus has been won and he’s still here.
“But it’s wreaked extraordinary damage on his body and we don’t know if he can recover from that.”
Every Thursday evening Kate, Darcey and Billy have shown her support for NHS frontline workers by joining people throughout Britain in the Clap for Carers movement.