TV’s Kate: My Derek’s a stranger after virus
KATE Garraway has described her husband Derek Draper as a ‘stranger’ after he was left seriously ill with Covid.
The Good Morning Britain presenter said the couple are finding a ‘whole new way’ to love one another in a teaser clip for an upcoming documentary.
‘The person he is now in many ways is a stranger,’ she said. ‘If we have a love and he can be a dad to the children in a whole new way, that’s life isn’t it.’
The clip showed Miss Garraway, 54, sitting at Mr Draper’s bedside, helping him up from bed and aiding the carers who help with his recovery at home.
Mr Draper, 54, is also seen in a wheelchair at the kitchen table in front of a birthday cake and talking with their son William, 12. The couple also have a daughter Darcey, 15. In the teaser video, Miss Garraway’s co-host Ben Shephard said: ‘He is desperately clinging on to the idea that he can get better.’
Mr Draper spent 374 days in hospital after catching Covid in March 2020.
He was put into an induced coma for months, with the family repeatedly told that he may not survive.
His heart stopped, his liver and pancreas were damaged and his kidneys failed. Bacterial pneumonia and infections left holes in his lungs and he lost 8st. Doctors who treated him said he was the most seriously ill patient to have survived the virus. He was finally discharged in April last year, with plans to receive round-the-clock care at home.
Miss Garraway had to make significant changes to their property in north London, installing a downstairs bedroom, wet room, wheelchair lift and an alarm system in case her husband needs urgent attention.
The presenter married political lobbyist Mr Draper in 2005. Speaking to You magazine last weekend, she said: ‘I’m not sure that we’ve ever fallen out of love but I think a new path is emerging, a new way to be in love.
‘He puts huge trust in me. He just says, “Whatever you think”, which is wonderful but I do get quite tearful about it. I think, “God, I hope I’m worthy of that trust”. But I’ve got his back.
‘That’s a positive thing to come out of this, to have that certainty of each other. He and I are very close.’
The ITV documentary, titled Kate Garraway: Caring For Derek, airs next Tuesday. It is the follow-up to Finding Derek, which was released last year.
‘I do get quite tearful’