TV Kate’s hope as husband Derek wakes from Covid coma
KATE Garraway’s husband Derek Draper has opened his eyes and is regaining consciousness as he con- tinues his fight for life after being struck down by Covid-19.
The 52-year-old was put into an induced coma after developing severe symptoms.
Mother of two Kate, 53, said: “We’re keeping positive and doing everything to bring him round.
“The children and I communicate with him every day on FaceTime, while a nurse holds his iPad. I really believe he can hear. When medical staff say ‘Good morning, Derek,’ he sometimes opens his eyes.”
Good Morning Britain star Kate said Derek had been feeling unwell with a painful shoulder before he was taken ill. Then on March 29, she came home and he told her: “I’m struggling to breathe.”
He was then taken to hospital and put into an induced coma on April 5.
Derek tested negative for Covid19 at the start of last month but the virus has caused major damage to his organs. In an interview with Hello! magazine, Kate said doctors had urged her to establish a new routine as she plans her return to TV and her slot on Smooth radio.
Kate said: “The doctors have been urging me not to put my life on pause. They’ve told me that I need to go back to work and create a routine in our lives again. The children and Derek are all I’ve thought about and they’re the most important people in my life, but I must create structure and normality for the children.
“I also need to get back to work so I can provide for the children and we can do things together, to make them feel the light hasn’t gone out of their lives, that there’s hope.”
Kate has told of hanging on the end of the telephone waiting for updates about Derek, who she described as her “rock”.
Doctors said Derek will not be out by the time son Billy, 10, starts secondary school in September.
Kate said: “The doctors have warned his condition could persist for years so I have to get on with life whilst waiting for him to get better. “My priority is to make the children feel safe, not to let them see me feeling vulnerable in the world where Derek was my rock.” Kate, who also has daughter Darcey, 14, recently became overwhelmed as she admitted she did not know if Derek could recover from the damage caused by the virus. She said: “There seems to be a flicker of hope but other things emerge that they’re fighting. It has affected him from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.”
Kate has also admitted it is hard seeing reminders of Derek around the house.
She said: “It’s full of things he’s chosen, he’s trapped at the moment, in a line between living and the uncertainty of recovery, and we’re trapped with that uncertainty as well.”