Kate Garraway opens up about husband Derek’s ‘agony’ in Covid-19 battle as she reveals he made ‘progress with words’ before Christmas

Kate Garraway has spoken about her husband Derek Draper’s ‘agony’ as he fights to stay conscious in hospital.

The presenter’s husband was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 last March where he has remained ever since.

Derek is now free of the virus, but is still dealing with the long-term effects it has had on his body including kidney failure and liver damage.

Kate will go into detail about the difficult year her family has been through since her husband, who she shares children Billy and Darcey with, was admitted to hospital in a documentary for ITV.

Appearing on Thursday’s episode of The One Show to talk about it, she shared how she imagined Derek must be feeling.

She told hosts Alex Jones and Michael Ball: ‘Towards the middle of last summer I learned something.

‘Coronavirus is horrific, the deaths are horrific, but it isn’t just that, there’s a whole group of people trapped where the damage is so great, where they’re not sure they can get their life back, and that’s where Derek is.

‘Derek is an extreme case, he has a prolonged disorder of consciousness. There was reaction, before Christmas there was progress with words and communication.

‘I feel like I’m on a lifeboat and he keeps coming up, there are moments where he bubbles up and it feels like you have to feel him with positivity or he’s gonna sink down.’

Turning to some of the more hopeful moments the documentary will cover, Kate went on: ‘You will see some of the better moments where he comes up and you see what must be agony for him.

‘Since I’ve known him, his brain has been his best friend, and suddenly it’s no longer his friend and he’s fighting to get out.

‘If it’s tough for me it’s even tougher for him.’

Kate has not been able to visit Derek in hospital since before Christmas due to the changing coronavirus guidelines in the UK.

She concluded: ‘I don’t want people to panic because we’re trying to move forward and live with this.’

The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One.

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