Featured Image Credit: ITV
Topics: Celebrity, Coronavirus, Health, Kate Garraway
Joe Harker
Kate Garraway has shared an update on the health of her husband Derek Draper around three years on from him being struck by the devastating effects of long Covid.
Both Kate and Derek caught Covid-19 early in the pandemic but while her case was mild, her husband was hospitalised and placed into a coma.
Derek was in hospital for over a year and has been receiving round the clock care for the devastating effects he has suffered from long Covid ever since.
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He has returned to hospital on a number of occasions, though he was able to be with Kate as she received her MBE earlier this year.
She said it had been 'wonderful' that he'd come to support her and that while 'daily struggles go on' she was able to treasure that he had been able to be with her on the day.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Garraway detailed the impact long Covid was having on Derek, explaining that he can't breathe oxygen or expel carbon dioxide efficiently which is 'slightly poisoning his body all the time'.
She said he needed 'respiratory rehab' which is a series of exercises which helps the lungs recover.
Unfortunately, her husband has developed a 'weird choking' condition and an answer as to why this is has not yet been determined.
Kate described a very distressing and recent moment which occurred during a carer handover where she and her son were unable to do anything to help her husband.
She said: "It happened again just last weekend. For absolutely no reason he just went blue."
Fortunately Derek 'sort of vomited' and both of his carers high-fived, with Kate saying they 'knew they'd had a really near miss'.
The 56-year-old has been through a lot in his experience with long Covid as he has suffered from brain inflammation, kidney failure, there was damage to his liver and pancreas while his heart stopped several times while he was in hospital.
There are holes in his lungs and he shed eight stone while hospitalised.
The family home was modified to become wheelchair accessible and specialist equipment was moved in for Derek so he could receive 24 hour care.
The broadcaster has often praised how 'determined' she finds her husband during his gruelling struggle with long Covid.
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