Kate Garraway has recalled the ‘devastating’ moment her husband Derek Draper told her he feared he couldn’t go on while he was in hospital with coronavirus.
The TV presenter, 53, spoke to her husband, 53, on the phone from hospital where he has spent months in intensive care as he battles the virus.
In a clip from her new documentary Kate Garraway: Finding Derek seen by The Mirror, Kate said it was ‘terrible’ to think her husband had reached such a low point.
Harrowing: Kate Garraway has recalled the ‘devastating’ moment her husband Derek Draper told her he feared he couldn’t go on while he was in hospital with coronavirus
She said: ‘Derek had been drifting in and out of consciousness and when he said that, it was absolutely devastating, but it showed me he was still in there. Even though it was terrible to think his spirits were so low’.
Viewers will see Kate speaking to Derek as he tells her he feels like there is ‘no way out’ and he has got to the point where he no longer knows how to cope.
Kate then told her husband that he will get better and that he will come back to his old life with her and their children Darcey, 15, and William, 11.
Viewers then see Kate vowing to save Derek as she helped to bring him back from his lowest point back in November.
Heartbreaking: The TV presenter, 53, spoke to her husband, 53, on the phone from hospital where he has spent months in intensive care as he battles the virus
The presenter told The Mirror: ‘After that call, it was then time to go into GMB and go on air, having been up all night, it was a tough night actually. But everyone at ITV has been so incredibly supportive. I managed to get through. During this whole time, working on GMB and Smooth Radio has helped me to keep going and keep my spirits up.’
While Covid is no longer in Derek’s system, the virus left him battling kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure and damage to his pancreas.
Kate added: ‘And in the end, I said to him, “Just stay with me, I’m going to keep talking to you”. And he was obviously exhausted. Because that’s the other thing, is that the tiniest thing completely exhausts him.’
The broadcaster said that even Derek voicing his feelings like that would have taken a huge amount out of him as he has such little energy.
Kate spoke to her husband on the drive into work that day and then told the doctor’s to put on Good Morning Britain so he could see her.
Kate said: ‘Derek had been drifting in and out of consciousness and when he said that, it was absolutely devastating, but it showed me he was still in there’
The presenter first invited a film crew into her home last September with the hope that the film would end with Derek returning home.
But seven months later, the documentary will instead focus on Derek’s year in hospital as well as the many months of recovery that are left.
Derek has lost eight stone amid his health battle with Kate revealing the children have not seen him in person at all this year.
She added the kids did visit Derek over Christmas and described it as a ‘shock’ to see the physical change in him.
Kate has made the groundfloor of her home wheelchair accessible and is looking ahead to visiting Derek in hospital as soon as lockdown is eased.
Tragic: Derek was admitted to hospital in March after contracting the respiratory illness and was subsequently placed in a medically induced coma before he awoke in July (pictured in hospital)
Kate, who acknowledges there is still a long way to go in Derek’s road to recovery, thinks the couple’s relationship may be changed forever.
The presenter said he will behave differently and be physically different but she thinks his return may be a ‘beautiful thing’ as they will have the chance to fall in love all over again.
During an appearance on The One Show on Thursday, Kate said Derek is ‘trapped in the middle ground’ as he is sometimes able to communicate with her before slipping out of consciousness.
Kate said: ‘One of things I’m here to talk about is the documentary and what you will see is that this time last year, I was, like a lot of us, wondering what was coming our way.
‘I was fearing the worst, on air reading headlines about the earliest cases of people contracting coronavirus and then I suddenly found myself right in the middle of it.
Finding Derek: Viewers will see Kate speaking to Derek as he tells her he feels like there is ‘no way out’ and he has got to the point where he no longer knows how to cope
‘And I’d say there was weeks and months of living minute by minute, wondering if I was going to get the call to say whether he lived or died.’
Kate went on to explain that while Derek has survived Covid, he is ‘trapped in the middle ground’.
Derek was admitted to hospital in March after contracting the respiratory illness and was subsequently placed in a medically induced coma before he awoke in July.
She said: ‘Derek is an extreme case, he has a prolonged disorder of consciousness which means that there is some reaction.
‘It’s not like what we see in movies where people are lying in a vegetative state, you know you can look at his eyes and before Christmas there was a lot of progress with some words and communication.’
Sad: Kate – who shares Darcey, 15, and William, 11, (pictured in 2019) with her husband of 15 years – admitted it is ‘shocking’ to see his current state, including his eight stone weight loss
Derek is considered to be the longest surviving COVID-19 patient in the country.
On more than one occasion his heart stopped beating, he battled bacterial pneumonia and fought multiple infections which punctured holes in his lungs.
Kate said: ‘What I feel like is that I’m on a life boat somehow and he’s coming up and down. You’re on this precipice trying to hold onto him.
‘There’ll be moments where he bubbles up and you have contact with him on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions.
Health battle: While Covid is no longer in Derek’s system, the virus left him battling kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure and damage to his pancreas
‘It feels like you’re going to have to fill him with so much positivity because he’s going to sink down.’
The GMB host said there will be ‘heartbreaking moments’ in the documentary, as when he does regain consciousness, viewers will see ‘what must be agony for him’.
Kate continued: ‘His brain has always been his best friend. Suddenly his brain is no longer his best friend and he’s fighting to get out.
‘It’s very, very tough. But if it’s tough for me, it must be tougher for him.’
Kate Garraway: Finding Derek airs on ITV on Tuesday at 9pm.