Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has said there is a chance her husband, Derek Draper, may never recover after being hospitalised with coronavirus.
After falling ill with COVID-19, Draper has been in intensive care for the past eight weeks. Although now free from the virus, he remains in a coma.
Speaking to fellow GMB hosts Ben Shephard and Ranvir Singh about her husband’s condition, an emotional Garraway said the virus may have caused irreversible harm.
“The fight with the virus has been won and he’s still here but it’s wreaked extraordinary damage on his body and we don’t know if he can recover from that,” she said.
Garraway added: “He’s still with us. He has fought the most extraordinary battle. But you know, the fact that he is still here and is holding on – I’m just so grateful he’s still here. And I’ve got the option of praying and hoping.
“He is very very sick. And as time goes on, it’s a virus, it’s a little bit like a computer virus, there seems to be a flicker of hope and then other things emerge and he’s fighting that. It’s affected him from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.”
'I'm just so grateful he is still here.'
Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper has been fighting for his life against coronavirus for nearly 10 weeks.
She talks to Ben and Ranvir about his situation.
We're sending all of our love and support❤️ pic.twitter.com/VmdrDBhRG3
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 5, 2020
Opening up about the days before Draper was admitted to hospital, Garraway said he initially thought he was suffering from sinusitis. However, after struggling to breathe, paramedics were called.
“[He] went into hospital and initially went straight to intensive care and, in that first week, it looked like he was rallying,” she said. “The doctors were very positive, but he was begging me saying, ‘I feel like I’m suffocating, please let them put me in a coma.’
“[The hospital] rang me up and the doctor said, ‘We’re going to put him in a coma’. [Derek] told me, ‘I love you, I’m sorry I have to leave you.’ And I said, ‘It’s only for three or four days; it’s good. It’s what you wanted.’
“He said, ‘You’ve saved my life,'” Garraway recalled. “‘I think you’ve saved my life, I don’t mean just now, I mean being married to you and the children and everything.’”
Garraway added: “It’s just extraordinary he’s still here, I’m so proud of him and most of all, the doctors and nurses around him are just incredible. They’re incredible with what they’ve done, with a disease they’re learning about every day.”
Draper was first admitted to hospital on 30th March, where he test positive for coronavirus. He was transferred to intensive care four days later. Garraway has subsequently been absent from the airwaves until her GMB appearance this morning.
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/3gY4CmP
