Kate Garraway reveals husband Derek is ‘trapped’ after Covid battle and ‘fighting to get out’

Kate Garraway has spoken out about her critically-ill husband Derek Draper, who remains in ICU nearly one year after he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus. 

The presenter, 53, appeared on The One Show on Thursday where she talked about her ITV documentary Finding Derek, which will give an ‘unflinching account’ of Derek’s battle over the past 12 months. 

Kate said Derek, 53, is ‘trapped in the middle ground’ as he is sometimes able to communicate with her before slipping out of consciousness. 

Her story: Kate Garraway has spoken out about her critically-ill husband Derek Draper, nearly one year after he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus

Speaking to Alex Jones and Michael Ball, Kate spoke about the special one-off film, which will offer an ‘intimate insight’ into coping with the impact of Covid on her family, as well as meeting survivors of the disease. 

Kate said: ‘One of things I’m here to talk about is the documentary and what you will see is that this time last year, I was, like a lot of us, wondering what was coming our way.

‘I was fearing the worst, on air reading headlines about the earliest cases of people contracting coronavirus and then I suddenly found myself right in the middle of it.  

Health: Derek was admitted to hospital in March after contracting the respiratory illness and was subsequently placed in a medically induced coma before he awoke in July (pictured 2019)

Covid: The presenter, 53, appeared on The One Show on Thursday where she talked about her ITV documentary Finding Derek, which will give an ‘unflinching account’ of Derek’s battle

‘And I’d say there was weeks and months of living minute by minute, wondering if I was going to get the call whether to say whether he lived or died.’ 

Kate went on to explain that while Derek has survived Covid, he is ‘trapped in the middle ground’. 

Derek was admitted to hospital in March after contracting the respiratory illness and was subsequently placed in a medically induced coma before he awoke in July.

The virus has wreaked havoc throughout his entire body, resulting in kidney failure, and liver and pancreatic damage.  

Devastating: Speaking to Alex Jones and Michael Ball, Kate spoke about the special one-off film and that while Derek has survived Covid, he is ‘trapped in the middle ground’

Heartbreaking: Kate said: ‘What I feel like is that I’m on a life boat somehow and he’s coming up and down. You’re on this precipice trying to holding onto him’

She said: ‘Derek is an extreme case, he has a prolonged disorder of consciousness which means that there is some reaction.

‘It’s not like what we see in movies where people are lying in a vegetative state, you know you can look at his eyes and before Christmas there was a lot of progress with some words and communication.’ 

Derek considered to be the longest surviving COVID-19 patient in the country. 

On more than one occasion his  heart stopped beating, he battled bacterial pneumonia and fought multiple infections which punctured holes in his lungs. 

Derek has regained minimal consciousness from his medically induced coma and while he has not been speaking, he heartbreakingly mouthed the word ‘pain’ in October last year. 

Glimmer of hope: ‘There’ll be moments where he bubbles up and you have contact with him on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions’, she said

Kate said: ‘What I feel like is that I’m on a life boat somehow and he’s coming up and down. You’re on this precipice trying to holding onto him. 

‘There’ll be moments where he bubbles up and you have contact with him on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions. 

‘It feels like you’re going to have to fill him with so much positivity because he’s going to sink down.’ 

The GMB host said there will be ‘heartbreaking moments’ in the documentary, as when he does regain consciousness, viewers will see ‘what must be agony for him’. 

Kate continued: ‘His brain has always been his best friend. Suddenly his brain is no longer his best friend and he’s fighting to get out. 

‘It’s very, very tough. But if it’s tough for me, it must be tougher for him.’ 

Sad: Kate – who shares Darcey, 15, and William, 11, (pictured in 2019) with her husband of 15 years – admitted it is ‘shocking’ to see his current state, including his eight stone weight loss

Finding Derek will air on 23rd March, and will show Kate giving an ‘unflinching account’ on the past 12 months.  

ITV said in a statement: ‘Kate offers an unflinching account of the profound effects on her family and on others as she opens up on camera for the first time on the reality of the past 12 months.  

‘As Kate lays bare in the film, her family, along with many others who have suffered the effects of the virus, is now facing the reality of adjusting to a very different way of life to the one they lived before the pandemic hit.’

Kate – who shares children Darcey, 15, and William, 11, with her husband of fifteen years –  previously admitted it is ‘shocking’ to see his current state, including his dramatic eight stone weight loss.   

She said her husband’s current state is something from a ‘horror story,’ as she tries to come to terms with the possibility that his health battle could leave him suspended between life and death.

The star said to The Times: ‘The very worst moment was when they said he could be locked in forever. And I just thought, this is a horror story. I don’t know if he’ll ever have any kind of life again. We just don’t know.’     

Finding Derek: Kate is set to host the ITV special about her husband Derek’s battle with coronavirus, and the programme is set to air on 23rd March