Kate Garraway Supported Her Kids Alone While Her Husband Derek Draper Battled Illness

Kate Garraway’s husband, Derek Draper, spent 13 months in the hospital after contracting coronavirus back in March 2020.

He was placed into an induced coma after his blood pressure levels dropped severely. He returned home after over a year in the hospital but still requires round-the-clock care.

Aside from being placed into an induced coma, Draper was also left with kidney failure, damage to his liver and pancreas, heart failure, as well as countless infections that left holes in his lungs.

Garraway shared about his condition during an interview, saying the coronavirus had devastated him.

“From the top of his head to the tip of his toe. His digestive system, his liver, his kidney, his heart, his nervous system,” she said.

“We’re pretty sure that the inflammation did pass through the brain. He still can’t communicate, he still has issues with mobility.”

Kate Garraway Looked after Her Kids Alone

When Draper was hospitalized, it was a tough period for Garraway. She did her best to look after their two children — daughter Darcey and son William.

However, it wasn’t very easy for her, and she admitted to failing when it came to homeschooling her kids in her husband’s absence.

Garraway shared it was very challenging to help her kids through their studies. “I know I have frankly failed my children in supporting them in their homeschooling.”

Even after Draper woke up from his induced coma and came home on April 7, 2021, it wasn’t the same. 

Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper with their kids (Source: Instagram)

Garraway revealed on The Andrew Marr Show that Draper couldn’t really move and his communication was minimal. 

“He has a lot of memory. But the accessing of it is very limited,” she shared. “He’s a long way from the Derek Draper that you know, Andrew, but he’s home and he’s alive. He’s asleep now.”

Kate Garraway and Derek Draper

Garraway and Draper met for the first time in fall 2004, through their mutual friend, Gloria De Piero, who used to work with her as the political editor of GMTV.

They started dating shortly after and tied the knot a year later. The wedding was held on September 10, 2005, in London.

Garraway later told The Times that their wedding had an unexpected guest–Brendan Cole from Strictly Come Dancing.

Kate Garraway and Derek Draper on their wedding (Source: Instagram)

She thought Cole was the boyfriend of one of the wedding guests, but later learned her husband had been taking dance lessons from him for their big day.

Garraway and her husband welcomed their first child, daughter Darcey, on March 10, 2006. Their family of three grew larger on July 28, 2009, when she gave birth to son William.

Garraway and Draper had been planning to renew their vows for their 15th wedding anniversary in 2020. Unfortunately, the plan fell through because he was still at the hospital.

Just hours before their 16th wedding anniversary, her documentary, Finding Derek, won a National Television Award under the Authored Documentary category.

The documentary gave a look at how Garraway and her kids coped with Draper’s hospitalization with coronavirus.