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Kate Garraway says husband Derek has ‘huge challenges ahead’ after Covid-19 battle: ‘We’re not out of the woods’

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Kate Garraway has shared an update on her husband Derek Draper, saying he’s ‘very up and down’ after his Covid-19 battle.

The Good Morning Britain host chatted to Alastair Campbell, who once worked alongside Derek, pointing out that, while he was able to come home from hospital in April this year, it wasn’t because he was better.

‘He’s very up and down. We’re certainly a long way out of the woods,’ Kate explained of her husband of 16 years.’

The 54-year-old added: ‘Being home has meant we’ve seen some things improve, definitely having the family around, having the children around has provided stimulation and the problem is you latch onto the positives – which is good, because you have to, but there’s absolutely no doubt that there’s huge challenges ahead.’

Derek, 53, battled Covid-19 in intensive care for a year.

He suffered from rare brain inflammation and the virus attacked his lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas, with doctors saying that Derek had the worst Covid infection of any surviving patient.

Kate and Derek have been married for 16 years (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

In her book, The Power of Hope, Good Morning Britain star Kate explained that doctors said they couldn’t yet chart Derek’s recovery as they had ‘never seen anything like this before so can’t personally chart the recovery’.

While he has been able to speak a few words to Kate and their kids Darcey, 15, and Billy, 11, since returning home, Kate admitted that her husband is still ‘devastated’ by the effects of Covid.

More: Good Morning Britain

She told GMB: ‘He can’t really move, his communication is very minimal. There are moments when there’s up, in those moments you feel you know he’s in there. He has a lot of memory. 

‘But the accessing of it is very limited. So how is he? He’s a long way from the Derek Draper that you know, but he’s home and he’s alive and he’s asleep now.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.

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