Kate Garraway barely sleeps as she wakes every two hours to help care for her husband Derek Draper through the night.
The Good Morning Britain presenter has been sharing updates on Derek’s recovery, after he contracted Covid-19 in March 2020 and was subsequently put in an induced coma by doctors, and spent 13 months in hospital.
He was discharged and allowed to go home to live with wife Kate and their two children - Darcey, 15, and Billy, 12 - last year, and her award-winning ITV documentary Finding Derek followed her as the family came to terms with Derek’s long-term health issues.
Kate’s follow-up programme, Caring for Derek, will give viewers an insight into the daily struggles she and Derek face as they adapt to the former political lobbyist’s fragile health.
He requires round-the-clock care, and Kate said she gets up every two hours to help the overnight carer to move her husband in bed.
And she has to change his bed linen seven times a day, in order to stave off infection and keep Derek comfortable.
In the new documentary, Kate said her husband may never walk again because the muscles in his legs have seized up due to being in an induced coma, and sleeps for up to 20 hours a day.
The mum-of-two is up at 3.15am twice a week to co-host Good Morning Britain, as well as hosting a daily show on Smooth Radio.
She also took over from her former GMB co-star Piers Morgan to host Life Stories on ITV, and is hosting a new medical series for BBC One.
But Kate said her husband is heartbroken over the life he has lost, and becomes upset when she has to help him with everyday tasks such as going to the toilet.
She told The Sun it was about “finding a new balance”, and said their relationship still feels “romantic”, despite Derek being so ill.
“I'll help with those really intimate things with, say, the toilet. I'll say, ‘Are you okay?’ He will always say he would rather I not be doing this. And I say, ‘Right, but I've got to do it,” Kate explained.
“There are other times when he's just so weak. I don't think we're at the point where it's awkward yet, because he's still so unwell,” she added.
