Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway revealed her husband Derek Draper was back in hospital during Thursday afternoon’s episode of Loose Women
Kate Garraway has revealed her husband Derek Draper is back in hospital.
The Good Morning Britain presenter revealed the news on Thursday afternoon’s episode of Loose Women. Giving an update on Derek’s health and praising carers, she revealed if it wasn’t for the people looking after him, he “would have died”.
As as he continues his battle with Long Covid, the former Labour lobbyist was first hospitalized in March 2020 with coronavirus, after suffering numbness in his hand, headaches and breathlessness. Despite being declared free of COVID-19 following 10 weeks in a medically induced coma, Derek has been left with long-term complications since contracting the virus. He was discharged on a trial basis in April 2021 but has been readmitted to the wards multiple times with numerous health issues, including kidney failure, brain inflammation and liver damage.
Kate delivered the tough news during Thursday’s Loose Women (
Image:
ITV)
Speaking to the Loose Women panel, Kate explained: “He’s actually back in the hospital at the moment, I haven’t talked about this, but not the horrific drama fortunately, because there have been lots of, as we all experience, referrals and cancellations.”
“He’s gotten back in for something that he began last year, which he needed the second part of which will hopefully mean he has more movement, physical fractures. So it’s a positive hospital thing. So he’s actually not at home at the moment. So when the visiting game, but hopefully won’t be in for too long.”
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Kate joined the panel to discuss Carer’s Rights Day as she gave an update on Derek. After speaking about her new book, focusing on her care for her husband, she explained: “It’s not that you want to be a ‘poor me’ about it because on the one hand I feel incredibly fortunate because so many hundreds of 1000s of people, everyday people lose people.
“I talk in the book about grief and it took me a long time to admit that as a family we were grieving because I felt guilty because actual bereavement, so many are going through, that you feel that this is a lesser degree, but really, it is a kind of grief because you go through mini deaths when someone’s very ill.”
Kate also recently admitted she’s constantly worried about losing Derek, who now requires full-time care on the ground floor of the couple’s London home. “I’d love to be able to tell you that, since Derek has been home, everything has been easy, that the miracle of him being at home has turned the day-to-day challenges into a breeze,” she told Good Housekeeping.
“But because we keep having emergency setbacks and he’s had to be rushed back into hospital so many times, the fear of him dying has never left us.” Kate and Derek, who have been married since 2005, are the proud parents of Darcey, 17, and fourteen-year-old William. The GMB presenter has previously commended the teenagers for their handling of their father’s condition, revealing that they’ve navigated it “brilliantly” and have readjusted to living differently since his decline.
Kate has also admitted Derek’s illness has negatively affected her own health, even resulting in her being hospitalized with chest pains from extreme stress.
