TV’s Kate: My Derek has a slow, uncertain path ahead
IT looked like there was some light at the end of the tunnel when Kate Garraway revealed that her husband had woken up from his coma.
But Derek Draper remains on a ‘very slow and uncertain path’ following his devastating battle with coronavirus, his family has said.
Having sparked hope of his recovery, representatives for the Good Morning Britain presenter said that there had been a ‘level of optimism that may not yet be justified’.
Before reading out a statement from the family on yesterday’s show on ITV, Garraway’s co-host Piers Morgan said Mr Draper, 52, a former lobbyist and British Labour Party adviser, remained in a ‘serious and critical condition’.
The statement read: ‘These headlines give a level of optimism that may not yet be justified.
‘We hope, as does Kate, there will be more evidence of a recovery but it will be a very slow and uncertain path.’
Garraway, 53, revealed that her husband had opened his eyes after three months in a coma having been struck down by the virus in March. ‘When medical staff say: “Good morning, Derek,” he sometimes opens his eyes,’ she told Hello! magazine.
Dr Hilary Jones, who frequently appears on daytime television, said Mr Draper may be left with ongoing problems following his battle with Covid-19 and has a ‘long road ahead’.
‘It’s quite a chronic illness even when people survive, and they’re having to learn to walk again, to talk again,’ he said. ‘A lot of people have got ongoing disabilities,’ he said on yesterday’s edition of the Lorraine show.