How Kate Garraway emotionally fought for Derek Draper on TV – taking on MPs & campaigning amid husband’s Covid battle
KATE Garraway bravely fought for her husband Derek Draper during a number of emotional TV moments – before his tragic death.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 56, announced today that her husband died holding her hand following a four-year battle with Covid.
Derek, 56, was recently left fighting for life in hospital after suffering a massive heart attack.
Kate has continued to spread awareness of the life-changing illness – but it was clear to see that it had taken a toll on her.
Here we take a look at some of the moments where Kate fought on.
Two year wait for hospital appointment
In September, Kate revealed that Derek cried after two-year wait for hospital appointment.
The ITV anchor later appeared on This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby and Josie Gibson to talk about her new book The Strength of Love: Embracing an Uncertain Future with Resilience and Optimism.
While talking about her new novel, The Strength of Love: Embracing an Uncertain Future with Resilience and Optimism, Josie Gibson asked how former lobbyist Derek has been doing.
Kate said on ITV’s This Morning: “So Derek had a really good day yesterday. He had an infection over the last couple of weeks which is receding.
While talking about her new novel, Josie asked how former lobbyist Derek has been doing.
Kate said: “So Derek had a really good day yesterday. He had an infection over the last couple of weeks which is receding.
“We’d gone back. That’s like two years ago so can you imagine how long other people are having to wait.
“So we went there and it was a very low moment. I got really low.”
Later on during the interview Kate got very emotional as she spoke about attending Elton John’s gig in April.
After the clip finished, Kate and Holly fought back the tears.
“Elton will never know how much that meant,” she said.
Kate clashed with MP over seriously ill Derek’s NHS battle
The GMB star clashed with an MP over her Covid-stricken husband’s treatment in a private hospital.
Kate interviewed Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry.
The pair were debating Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s bold plan to tackle NHS waiting lists by using private sector capacity against a backdrop of striking nurses and overflowing hospitals.
The Labour MP denied this was the start of privatising the NHS saying: “It’s not. If you’re waiting six months to get your hip replaced and there aren’t enough beds in a National Health Service hospital and there are some beds in a private hospital, we’re saying the NHS will pay for surplus capacity in the private hospitals to get the waiting list down. It’s just completely pragmatic politics.”
Mum-of-two Kate became emotional as she explained how Derek had initially been treated in a private hospital – under the care of the NHS – during the pandemic.
She said: “I know from personal experience because when Derek was first sick and he had to be moved to hospital, there were no spaces on any wards for him to go, for the treatment he needed. And so at that time, effectively everything was nationalised.
“But after a while, the private hospitals said that they couldn’t make it pay and therefore it came to an end, it reverted back. And so that seemed like a sensible way to go.
“What was the argument against that?”
When Ms Thornberry failed to reply Kate continued: “I’d have said the argument against that was people with private insurance wouldn’t be able to jump queues.”
Kate’s fears her colleagues are ‘fed up’ with her
Kate has kept her fans updated on Derek’s health and in December 2022, she worried that her colleagues were “fed up” with her talking about Derek all the time.
The popular presenter told Lorraine: “It’s been a long battle to get him back home again.”
She also paid an emotional tribute to her co-host and friend Ben, saying he had been “extraordinary” throughout her ordeal.
The star added, in an emotional confession, that she feared her colleagues were “fed up to the back teeth” with her talking about Derek.
Asked by Lorraine how her 55-year-old husband was, Kate said: “Oh, I mean you know, it’s a long onslaught.
“I can see he has better days, he has worse days. He is thankfully at home now. It’s been a long battle to get him back home again.
“I think it’s very tough on him and very tough on the people around me actually. All jokes aside, Ben – for all his unbelievable cheek – has been extraordinary.
“I can’t help thinking, you Lorraine, all the people around me, the people at GMB, at Smooth Radio as well must be fed up to the back teeth.
“That is the problem, I think, if you are caring or if you have a long-term situation as Derek has.
She added: “It doesn’t go away quickly and the fight goes on.”
Kate says she’s ‘desperately trying to hold on’
In March 2021, Kate told Alex Jones and Michael Ball on The One Show that she felt like a “life boat” and he was “bobbing along” beneath her in an emotional analogy.
“Derek is an extreme case. What he had is what is called a prolonged disorder of consciousness which means that there is some reaction,” she explained.
“It is not like the coma we see in movies where people are lying in a vegetative state. He can open his eyes and before Christmas there was a lot of progress with words and communication and things.
“But what I feel like is that I am on a lifeboat somehow and he is coming up and down. Sorry, this seems very figurative but that is how it feels.
“You are on this precipice trying to hold on to him and there are moments when he bubbles up and you have some contact, predominantly at the moment on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions.”
She went on to describe the fact she was living in a “strange world” where she was existing “minute by minute” when Derek first fell ill.
She said: “There is a whole group of people trapped in the middle ground where the damage is so great they aren’t sure if they can get their life back.
“It has affected people on a lot of levels. It’s greater than just live or dies.”
Kate in tears when Derek hugs son Billy
Kate was in floods of tears as she watched a clip from her documentary Caring For Derek aired on Good Morning Britain back in February 2022, showing Derek lifting his arm to embrace his son.
Watching it back while speaking to GMB hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid, Kate said: “That was the first time we’d seen him activate a movement from emotion rather than in physio.
“I burst into tears watching when I saw that in the documentary.”
Kate said it was a significant moment that demonstrated the amazing progress Derek has made at home after spending a year in hospital.
She added: “We wanted to bring him home because he had a year in a ward being treated by incredible people, and he plateaued.”
Kate’s ‘loneliness’
In December 2021, Kate broke down in tears after revealing her “loneliness” with husband Derek.
Kate told Piers Morgan on Life Stories: “There are lots of moments of joy in that, recognition, moments with the children where he definitely knows what they’re saying to him and remembers things.
“But there is no way of knowing what the future is and in the meantime, it’s a strange thing Piers…”
As she fought back the tears, she continued: “I want him there and I want him back, but some days his presence reminds me the absence, so you can feel very lonely. I feel like I just want to talk to Derek.
“Even though I believe he’s there, he can’t be there in that same way.
“I love him more than ever by the way.”
Derek speaks for the first time after coma
In heartbreaking scenes, which aired on Finding Derek, the Good Morning Britain presenter revealed how emotional it was to see such progress after 214 days in hospital.
Kate shared a video of herself filming her husband during a rehab session and captured the extraordinary moment.
When the doctor asked if the movement was ok, he said: “Pain”.
Speaking about the moment afterwards, Kate said: “So that is the first time I saw him mouth a word and he mouths pain, I saw it really clearly and I said ‘pain, pain’.
“And they just said ‘ok pain’ and didn’t particularly react, so I didn’t particularly react, but then afterwards we all burst into tears. It was the first time we had seen him mouth the words.”
Unable to fight back tears, the mum-of-two said: “It makes me cry because that is a massive breakthrough- the fact his brain can communicate to his mouth to shape the word pain.
“So obviously, while it’s awful he’s feeling pain and it’s awful that is the word he can reach for because it makes you think that is the dominating experience he is having at the moment, which is not what you want.
“But the fact that he was able to do it, shows that there are connections that are coming back. That is the important thing.”
My children have ‘effectively lost their dad’
In July 2020, Kate broke down in tears on today’s Good Morning Britain as she said her two children have “effectively lost their dad.”
She told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: “For Darcey and Billy right now, effectively they’ve lost their dad.
“They haven’t, he’s there, they’re talking to him on FaceTime. He can’t respond, but you know he’s not a presence in the way he should be in our lives.”
“When he went into hospital, I’ve got some texts from him saying, ‘I’m definitely not going to die, I’m getting better, show this picture to the children, tell them I’m doing great,” said Kate.
The journalist recalled the feeling of terror she felt when Derek’s condition suddenly worsened.
She said: “Suddenly it escalated and they were saying it’s all about the lungs… and then suddenly it became everything, kidney fail, liver fail, heart, everything.
“Each stage it’s been a new terror and just when I thought we were moving forward then suddenly we know it can affect your body everywhere, nerves, everything.”
Kate announced the heartbreaking news earlier today.
She wrote: “I’m sad to have to tell you all that my darling husband Derek has passed away.
“As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.
“Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed.
“I have so much more to say, and of course I will do so in due course, but for now I just want to thank all the medical teams who fought so hard to save him and to make his final moments as comfortable and dignified as possible.
“Sending so much love and thanks to all of you who have so generously given our family so much support. Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life.”