Kate Garraway has revealed the heartbreaking moment she felt it was unsafe for her and her family as they cared for Derek Draper following his health complications after contracting Covid
Kate Garraway has candidly opened up on the struggles she faced while caring for late husband Derek Draper, saying it got to the point she no longer felt safe. Derek, a political lobbyist, died aged 56 in 2022 following a cardiac arrest after years of health implications from long Covid.
Derek’s health rapidly deteriorated after he contracted coronavirus in March 2020. He died four years later in January 2024.
Throughout his struggles, Good Morning Britain presenter Kate was by his side and was his primary carer. However, she has revealed how she got so tired at one stage that she felt the situation was no longer safe for her or her kids.
Speaking to the Sun, Kate described a three-week gap in care for her husband while the system tried to work out which agency would be best suited to helping the family with the care he needed. She said during that time she “had no choice but to try to get through looking after Derek 24/7 completely alone”.
Kate confessed: “By the end I was so sleep-deprived I was scared it was no longer safe — for me, for the children, let alone for Derek. In desperation I called health services again and this time refused to get off the phone until some answer was given.
“In the end, the person on the other end of the phone, who was also clearly exhausted, told me, “There is nothing I can do but — and this isn’t official — you are not alone and what I always say to people is take him to A&E and leave him there, then they legally have to do something.”
Kate was stunned that this was what the stage it had gotten to, questioning how the best solution appeared to be to “abandon” someone who wasn’t safe to be left alone. She praised family members who helped with the awful situation, but realises others may not be so lucky.
Kate also she admitted she still has a “tsunami of sadness” as she regularly wakes in the middle of night panicking she hasn’t given her husband his medicine. She previously revealed the touching last moments she and her two kids shared with Derek.
According to Kate in a discussion last year, proud dad Derek told his children, Darcey and Billy: “You’re the best children anyone could ask for. Look after mum, be good for her.” This was sadly last time Derek saw his two children before going into a coma.
Kate openly praised her kids for how they handled their dad’s condition and passing. Speaking on Good Morning Britain in February 2024, Kate said: “It was one of those stop-the-clock moments, where you want the world to stop.
“It swamps you. We now have 24 hours, [which] turned out to be more of a month, of fighting on and fighting on, following the prognosis that he won’t make it through. For the children when they heard he won’t make it through, they’ve heard it so many times.
“They were so beautiful, the children, about that. They individually had time with him on his own and Darcey said, ‘If, dad, you can’t do this, it’s okay. Don’t worry about us’. And I had similar conversations, a chance to hold his hand and smell his skin and hold him all the way through, and some people don’t get that.
