‘Effectively, right now, my children have lost their dad’
Presenter Kate Garraway returns to work still not knowing if her husband will recover from Covid-19
KATE GARRAWAY fears her husband Derek Draper may never fully recover from Covid-19 and has said her children have “effectively lost their dad”.
The Good Morning Britain presenter’s partner was put into an induced coma after becoming seriously ill with the virus, and despite reopening his eyes his condition is still uncertain after coming close to death six times.
Garraway, 53, said her partner, who has been fighting the virus since March, “sort of can’t wake up” and medical experts did not know how complete his recovery was.
Returning to the ITV studio 100 days after her husband went into hospital for the condition, Garraway said her two children Darcey and Billy had effectively lost their father.
Restrictions mean family members have been unable to visit him, but they have attempted video communication through a device held by his nurses.
Doctors have told the presenter to get on with life while her husband’s consciousness and future health remain uncertain.
Garraway has pledged to focus on their children to secure their safety and future, whatever happens.
“There’s flickers of hope,” Garraway told her Good Morning Britain colleagues during an on-air conversation yesterday morning. “But they don’t know how much better he can get.”
Doctors had told the family six times that Mr Draper was not going to make it. Garraway said that while his lungs, kidneys and liver were starting to recover, her husband was barely conscious and still struggling to emerge from the coma. She added the last thing he said while conscious was: “I love you, you saved my life.”
Speaking on her return to the studio, the presenter said: “The doctors are saying to me now, ‘You’ve got to get on, you’ve got to get on with life’. For Darcey and Billy, effectively, right now, they’ve lost their dad.”
The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant married the self-help author in 2005. Their children are now aged 14 and six.
Garraway said that while her husband was slightly overweight when he became ill, owing to her being a “feeder”, he was otherwise healthy. She said each stage of his illness had been a “new terror”.
Doctors said it was miraculous that Mr Draper was still alive. They were no longer trying to prolong the induced coma but said they were unsure to what extent he could see or hear. While a recovery could take years, Garraway said she was determined to look after their family and return to work to secure a normal life for her children.
She said: “That would be his priority. My job is to make him feel safe and
‘There’s flickers of hope but the doctors don’t know how much better he can get’
make them feel that they have a future and a world. And whatever happens with Derek, we hope and believe he can come back to us, but whatever happens they have to feel they have a world, to see me getting on – they’re going to have to go to school in September, I think it’s a really important thing.”
Garraway returns to present Good Morning Britain with Ben Shephard on Monday. Presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid return in September.