Kate Garraway updates fans on husband Derek Draper’s Covid-19 battle: I was told six times that he was not going to make it

The star will be back in the studio from next Monday
Rachel McGrath8 July 2020

Kate Garraway has revealed her husband Derek Draper is no longer in an induced coma but she does not know what he can feel, see or hear.

Earlier this week, the Good Morning Britain Garraway was quoted as saying Draper was on the road to recovery and while he is improving, the presenter admitted it’s unclear “how much better he can get.”

However she did say doctors believe it is a miracle he was still alive and that she had been told six times she was told to prepare herself that he would pass away.

Speaking on GMB on Wednesday morning during her first studio appearance since March, Garraway said: “He was induced into the coma as a way of resting the lungs.

“Of course now they’re [doctors] no longer keeping people in a coma and he sort... of can’t wake up.

“Derek is in a minimum state of consciousness but we have no real knowledge of what he can see and hear and feel.”

Happily married: Draper and Garraway had been planning to renew their wedding vows this year
Rex Features

“His lungs are starting to recover a little bit, his kidneys are doing better, his liver is doing better. But they don’t know how much better he can get.”

Garraway added: “It is a very desperate situation, it's very very difficult. Of course there's fantastic hope he's still alive, the doctors do keep saying it's a miracle he's still alive.

“I was speaking to a doctor yesterday who said he's sick as anyone I've ever seen in 35 years of medicine, and some of those people who were as sick of him aren't here.

“Six times they said he's not going to make it, and obviously you couldn't visit.

During her interview with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, Garraway also revealed that she will be returning to the show properly on Monday, having stepped down from presenting duties when Draper fell ill in March.

“I’ve got to get on and do things I’m good at,” she said. “I’m going to come back on Monday if you’ll have me!

Returning: Garraway was back in the studio to announce her presenting plans (ITV)

"I've been trying to keep everything going and I'm not especially different. Everyone is having to get on with sadness grief and loss, so if I come back we're all in the same boat."

When asked what Draper would think of her decision to return to work, Garraway said he would urge her to do so, to help provide a future for their two children, Darcey and Billy.

She said: “Derek would not just be saying,’Go back.’ He would be saying: ‘Why haven’t you done it before?’

“As he got in the ambulance he said, ‘Go inside and make them [the kids] feel safe.'

“My job now is to make them feel safe, and like they have a future and a world. And whatever happens with Derek, we hope and believe he can come back to us. To see me get on... they're going to go back to school in September."

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The star also revealed that Draper and his illness have been key in helping doctors learn more about Covid-19.

“They’ve changed pathways because of Derek,” she said. “They’re checking for things earlier on in other patients, which is a wonderful thing I think he would be very pleased about.

“As a wife it’s utterly infuriating that he had to be the one but,” she added with a shrug.

“Each stage has been a new terror and just when I thought we were moving forward… We now know it can affect your body everywhere. Nerves, everything.”

At the start of the interview, Garraway hinted at her announcement by sharing her joy at being in the studio again.

“It’s lovely to be back,” she said. “It’s like coming out of a bubble of sadness. It’s just so strange to still be in this situation.”

Garraway and Draper married in 2005 and have two children together, Darcey and Billy.