ITV presenter Kate Garraway's husband, Derek Draper, has been in a critical condition in hospital since contracting Covid-19 in March last year.
Garraway offered an intimate insight into the profound impact of the long-term illness on her family, in last night's ITV documentary Kate Garraway: Finding Derek.
Who is Kate Garraway?
Garraway is a presenter and journalist who broke into the industry in the mid to late nineties.
She has since worked across broadcasting on an array of shows including GMTV, Smooth Radio, Daybreak, Lorraine, Loose Women and Good Morning Britain.
Garraway, 53, also appeared on the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007 and placed fourth in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in 2019.
Who is Derek Draper?
Derek Draper, 53, is a former political advisor and an accredited psychotherapist.
He began his career in politics in 1990, as a constituency secretary for a Labour MP before going into research.
Draper wrote Blair’s 100 days in 1997 about former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first 100 days in office.
He went on to become the director of a lobbying firm in 1996, where he worked until 1999.
During the late nineties he worked as a political editor for a London based magazine.
Draper also worked briefly as a columnist for the Daily Express and had a presenter role on Talk Radio UK.
However, in 1998 he was implicated in the ‘Lobbygate’ scandal.
Draper was recorded by a journalist, from The Observer, talking about selling access to government ministers and creating tax breaks for clients.
He then left politics and retrained as a psychotherapist.
READ MORE: Sturgeon tells of relief after being cleared of breaking ministerial code
Draper has since written for the Mail on Sunday on matters of psychotherapy and he also wrote monthly columns in the magazines Psychologies and Therapy Today.
He made his return to politics in the 2008 General Election when he featured on Newsnight as a Labour Campaign Advisor.
Draper was the founder and editor of the LabourList website which launched in January, 2009 in response to the growing role of the internet in politics.
However, a few months later he was implicated in a second political scandal which involved a proposed smear campaign of members of the Conservative Party.
He then resigned from his role as editor.
When did Kate and Derek meet?
Garraway and Draper met through a mutual friend, Gloria De Piero, the then political editor of GMTV, in 2004.
Piero organised drinks for a group of people, including Garraway and Draper, at Claridges.
READ MORE: Finding Derek: Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway shares emotional journey in new documentary
In 2019 Garraway told The Times: “Derek arrived thinking it was a date and that I was being incredibly cool by ignoring him.”
“He asked me out, but the day of our date called to say he had a clash: he’d promised to serve wine at an amateur watercolour painting exhibition at his church.
“I really thought it was a wind-up. But I turned up and he was indeed serving wine to the congregation in a salmon-pink jumper,” she added.
The couple married the following year in Camden, London.
In March, 2006 their daughter Darcey was born.
Followed by their son Billy born in July, 2009.
Draper proposed to Garraway for a second time in 2019.
The couple were set to celebrate their second wedding last August, after 15 years of marriage – and Darcey, now 15, was helping to plan the day.
However, on March 30, 2020 Draper was hospitalised after contracting Covid-19.
How did Covid-19 impact Derek's health?
Draper was placed in a medically induced coma and suffered kidney failure, liver and pancreas damage, and heart failure.
In July, 2020 Garraway explained: “Derek is the sickest person the team of doctors in the lung hospital have treated, who has lived.
‘Derek, I miss you!’
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 18, 2021
Follow Kate Garraway’s emotional journey as her husband Derek recovers from the effects of Covid in a new documentary.
Watch Kate Garraway: Finding Derek Tuesday 9pm @itv. pic.twitter.com/Pio9URJy7d
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“His kidneys have failed, his liver’s failed, his heart is being supported by medicine.”
Draper remains in hospital having spent much of the past year in a coma.
The documentary captured his first clear and strong words, as he told Garraway: “Thank you. I love you, forever and a day.”
An emotional Kate replied: “Oh darling, I love you.”
What's next for Kate and Derek?
Draper’s rehabilitation continues and doctors have extended the option of keeping him in hospital until December this year.
As Garraway reflected on the level of care her husband will need when he leaves hospital, she said: "If I have to give up work to care for him it’s best to do it now. If he needs 24-hour care, I’ll be the primary carer."
However, Garraway added: "The truth is as much as I may think I have the answers all the time, Derek doesn’t need me.
“I'm not the person to care for him.
"I obviously will be there 100% completely if Derek needs me, but what he needs is specialist, professional, medical support ongoing - because there is a good chance that he can improve but we need to make sure the support is there now.”
The full documentary can be found on the ITV Hub.
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