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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Daniel Bird

Kate Garraway's heartbreaking reason for filming every aspect of Derek's Covid battle

Kate Garraway MBE has revealed why she filmed every aspect of her husband Derek Draper's deterioration after he was struck down by coronavirus.

The Good Morning Britain anchor documented Derek's journey on a television show, Caring For Derek, as well as sharing updates on the ITV breakfast news programme.

But now the 55-year-old has revealed why she chose to go down this route and share Derek's updates with millions of Brits as well as on social media.

Speaking on the Walt Disney Travels Journey to the Magic podcast, Kate opened up to fellow I'm A Celebrity star Giovanna Fletcher about her decision.

Kate Garraway has shared several insights into Derek Draper's Covid battle (itv)

Kate explained: "It's one of those things that you don't want to have a reason to make, but Derek found himself very, very ill at the very beginning of Covid.

"Then because he was quite well known and I'm on telly, people start to identify with you, and people that are going through it perhaps don't have the chance to speak up about all the various things and the challenges that are still going on."

The mum-of-two went on to add: "So yeah, it was the chance to do it, and I'd actually started filming myself because nobody could visit Derek in the hospital, obviously, just like for everybody else and after a while, they set up an iPad for him and we could FaceTime to try and get him out of the coma.

Derek became the UK's longest hospital inpatient after contracting the virus (ITV)

"And it was so emotional seeing him with all the tubes and everything that goes with it and in such a sick state."

Kate explained that she "couldn't take in" the sight of her beloved husband being hooked up to multiple hospital machines and became "overwhelmed" as she struggled to notice whether Derek had improved on each occasion she had seen him.

However, Kate was not aware of how to film with sounds but explained: "I would watch it back and I would remember what I had said and try and see if there was a reaction.

"Then I had all this material and they said 'we'd like to do something' and I said 'well I don't know what the end of the story is yet but you're right. Let's try and do something, so yeah'."

Kate went on to explain that her family are "good" but still facing challenges as Derek is unable to move properly and is unable to speak properly and is fed through tubes.

The former political lobbyist was struck down at the start of the pandemic and became the UK's longest inpatient to be treated for the virus before being discharged from the hospital to recover at the family home.

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