Kate’s tearful Good Morning
Host emotional over author’s Covid recovery battle
Michael described fight for life
KATE Garraway fought back tears while speaking to coronavirus survivor Michael Rosen on her first day back on Good Morning Britain.
The presenter, 53, admitted getting emotional as the children’s author described his recovery from illness after 47 days in a coma.
Like Kate’s husband Derek, Rosen, 74, was close to dying on several occasions.
But he bounced back and is now back home for the final stages of his recovery, including learning to walk again.
He said it was “luck” that enabled him to survive the illness and revealed NHS staff saved his life “several times”.
In the interview yesterday Rosen said: “It was only because we have a friend who is a GP and she tested my oxygen levels and Emma [his wife] rushed me to A&E to get tested. In the end it was luck, I might have gone that night.”
The former Children’s Laureate said:
KATE GARRAWAY TO AUTHOR MICHAEL ROSEN
“I can’t actually see out of my left eye or hear in my left ear, so the virus or the intensive care took prisoners.”
But giving some hope, he said: “I’m feeling good. Covid has a long tail depending on how severe the infection was and if you were in intensive care, which I was. But there are people all over the country, you know better than me Kate, that it isn’t an illness that you have and leave behind. I am feeling good, but I hope Kate, it gives you hope too.”
She replied: “It’s fantastic to see people come through this. It’s stories like yours that give everybody hope, thank you.”
Her co-host Ben Shephard agreed and added: “It’s hugely important. Kate, as you’ve said to me in the past about recovery, where there’s life there’s hope.”
Kate struggled to carry on as she got teary, adding: “I might get emotional so shall we talk to Lorraine?” Lorraine Kelly then said it was “a joy” to have Kate back before telling viewers about her show, which returned yesterday too. Presenter Kate bravely returned to work at Good Morning Britain yesterday after taking almost four months out while her husband
Kate with Derek, who is in hospital
Derek Draper, 52, battled for his life in intensive care in hospital after contracting coronavirus.
Earlier in the show Kate had admitted her return to breakfast TV had not been completely smooth as her “car didn’t turn up” and her computer went “into a two-hour update” just as she arrived.
Fans reacted with positive comments on social media after watching Kate back fronting the show.
Last week Kate told how Derek was showing positive signs of recovery but was still seriously ill. She said: “His eyes are opening but we have no knowledge of what he can see or hear.
“I was speaking to a doctor who has treated him and he said, ‘He’s as sick as anyone I’ve ever seen in 35 years of medicine, never mind Covid’. There’s flickers of hope, but they don’t know how much better he can get.”
It’s stories like yours that give everybody some hope