Kate Garraway felt 'it was no longer safe' while caring for Derek Draper

Daily Record

a day ago

Kate Garraway has spoken candidly about the struggles she faced while caring for her late husband Derek Draper as he battled long Covid before his tragic death.
Kate Garraway has bravely shared the challenges she faced while caring for her late husband Derek Draper, admitting there was a point when she no longer felt safe. Derek passed away at the age of 56 in 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
His health continued to decline following a long battle with health issues stemming from long Covid. Derek's condition worsened significantly after he caught Covid in March 2020, leading to his sad death four years later in January last year.
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Good Morning Britain host Kate stood by his side, taking on the role of his main carer. However, she has disclosed that exhaustion reached such a level at one point that she feared the situation had become a hazard for both herself and her children, reports the Mirror.
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In a conversation with the Sun, Kate detailed a three week period where there was a lack of care for Derek as authorities deliberated over which agency would be most appropriate to assist the family.
During this time, she "had no choice but to try to get through looking after Derek 24/7 completely alone". Kate admitted: "By the end I was so sleep-deprived I was scared it was no longer safe - for me, for the children, let alone for Derek."
She continued, "In desperation I called health services again and this time refused to get off the phone until some answer was given. In the end, the person on the other end of the phone, who was also clearly exhausted, told me, 'There is nothing I can do but - and this isn't official - you are not alone and what I always say to people is take him to AandE and leave him there, then they legally have to do something.'"
Kate was taken aback that it had come to this point, questioning how the best solution seemed to be to "abandon" someone who wasn't safe to be left alone.
She expressed gratitude for family members who assisted in the dreadful situation, but acknowledged that others might not be as fortunate. Kate also confessed to still experiencing a "tsunami of sadness", often waking up in the middle of the night in a panic thinking she hasn't given her husband his medication. She previously shared the poignant last moments she and her two children spent with Derek.
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In a conversation last year, Kate recalled how proud dad Derek told his children, Darcey and Billy: "You're the best children anyone could ask for. Look after mum, be good for her."
Tragically, this was the last time Derek saw his two children before falling into a coma. Kate openly praised her children for their handling of their father's condition and passing.
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Speaking on Good Morning Britain in February last year in 2024, Kate said: "It was one of those stop-the-clock moments, where you want the world to stop.
"It swamps you. We now have 24 hours, [which] turned out to be more of a month, of fighting on and fighting on, following the prognosis that he won't make it through. For the children when they heard he won't make it through, they've heard it so many times.
"They were so beautiful, the children, about that. They individually had time with him on his own and Darcey said, 'If, dad, you can't do this, it's okay. Don't worry about us'. And I had similar conversations, a chance to hold his hand and smell his skin and hold him all the way through, and some people don't get that."