Dad, if you can’t do this, we’ll be OK. You release yourself.. Don’t worry about us
Kate Garraway tells of her kids’ courage & last chat with Derek
KATE Garraway has praised her teenage children Darcey and Billy for the way they have dealt with losing dad Derek Draper.
In her first interview since her husband’s death last month, the Good Morning Britain presenter also said therapist and author Derek was only given 24 hours to live when he suffered a cardiac arrest in December.
He lasted another month – unable to speak but still able to hear his loved ones’ words.
Kate appeared on GMB yesterday, just three days after Derek’s funeral, ahead of resuming her presenting role later this week and told of her “outpouring of love for everyone that has supported me”.
And speaking from her home with bouquets of flowers and Lego in the background, she joked with her ITV colleagues Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid: “Let’s just own the mess and go with it, Lego and chaos.”
Derek fell seriously ill in March 2020, during the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, and spent 13 months in hospital. He died on January 3, aged 56, after suffering long-lasting symptoms from the virus.
Recalling how it felt when she was told Derek would not survive a serious downturn in his health, Kate – who made 2022 documentary Caring for Derek about their fight – said: “It was one of those moments where you want the world to stop.
“It swamps you. Thinking, ‘Right, we have what we were told was 24 hours and turned out to be more than a month of him fighting on and on’, even though the prognosis was he won’t make it.
“And that’s a challenge, because for the children, when they heard the
It’s sort of a new life starts now. I don’t know how it’s going to be
KATE GARRAWAY ON MOVING ON AFTER LOSS
doctors say he won’t survive this, they’ve heard that so many times.
“When we knew Derrick could still hear, even though he couldn’t open his eyes or speak, it was a challenge to make sure he knew that he wasn’t letting us down because he couldn’t get through this last one.
“And they were so beautiful, the children, about that. They had time with him on their own as well as all of us together. And Darcey said, ‘Dad, if you can’t do this, we’ll be OK. You know, you release yourself if you need to go. Don’t worry about us’. I thought that was extraordinarily brave.
“I had similar conversations and a chance to hold his hand and smell his skin, and say, ‘You know we’re here’.
“And one of the things I tried to say very badly at his funeral is for a lot of people it’s a comfort to think he’s free from pain and, my goodness, he deserves to be.”
Kate then thanked the hospital staff and carers who looked after Derek and added: “It’s sort of a new life starts now. I don’t quite know how it’s going to be. But grief isn’t containable, is it?
“Some say, ‘Why are you going back to work?’ Well, you know, everybody has to start, don’t they? Life has to start. It has to start any minute now. Bill has to go to school or he is going to be late! We have to pick ourselves up and go, don’t we? And that’s what Derek did and would want me to do.”
Kate, 56, expressed her gratitude for a book of condolence with messages from viewers, as well as three baskets of cards from viewers and ITV crew – plus the Prince and Princess of Wales and celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham.
She said: “It’s amazing. It feels like my emotions are at 110%. The unbelievable love we all have as a GMB family. We are lucky. The love we have as a family all together, people watching at home, we’re so connected. And we’ve always been connected in all our joys and fun, and the challenges of life, which Derek faced head-on, and our family has. But having those messages, it makes me weep, because I feel so grateful.
“I’m also aware there are people this morning that don’t have that sense of love. I know there’ll be people going to funerals today, who will be hearing terrible diagnoses today, who will be facing the worst today.
“And I’m thinking of them, really, because I know how they feel and I’m lucky that I’ve got all of you.”
Derek’s funeral, attended by figures including former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, music legend Sir Elton John and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, was held on Friday at the Church of St Mary The Virgin in Primrose Hill, North-West London.
Derek and Kate were married at the church in 2005. And she said of Darcey, 17, being a pallbearer: “She insisted and I thought it was a beautiful thing.” Kate added of Darcey and Billy, 14: “Their grieving will continue. We know there is a long way to go.”
She also praised carers, saying how “unbelievably hard” their work is.
And Kate joked of her return to the ITV show on Thursday: “I’m going to be looking forward to a blow dry. I’m going to be finding fake eyelashes. I’m going to be very much looking forward to applying fake tan.
“Don’t worry, I will be a little bit more respectable by Thursday.”