Kate Garraway’s husband, Derek Draper, has deteriorated “dramatically” since Christmas.
Kate Garraway
The ‘Good Morning Britain’ star’s spouse was hospitalised with coronavirus almost a year ago, and though he has recovered from the virus, he’s suffered numerous complications that have impacted his vital organs.
In December, Kate made a number of adaptations to their London home because Derek was progressing well and she was hopeful he’d be able to make home visits. However, new lockdown restrictions were imposed before Christmas so the 53-year-old star hasn’t seen her spouse since before the end of the year, and she’s now worried he’s become “institutionalised” as his condition has declined recently.
She said: “He’d been in hospital for nearly a year and I do wonder if he’s become institutionalised. I wonder if there’s a little bit of emotional lockdown going on.
“I feel like he is in an ocean of unconsciousness and sometimes he comes up to the surface. In the run-up to Christmas there were moments of consciousness where I felt like we were really communicating.
“But then the focus of the concentration disappears, and he’s gone.”
Derek was initially placed in an induced coma, before being woken in late June, and his wife was warned he’s unlikely to make a “good recovery” and the best they should hope for is him grasping some basic skills.
She told the Sunday Times Magazine: “It was so chilling. They said, ‘It’s highly unlikely he will make a good recovery. But we can’t rule out that he’ll make a reasonable recovery.’ I said, ‘OK, what does a reasonable recovery look like?’ And they said, ‘Being able to hold a hairbrush.’…
“The very worst moment was when they said he could be locked in for ever. And I just thought, this is a horror story.
“I don’t know if he’ll ever have any kind of life again. We just don’t know.”
The situation has been made more difficult because Kate doesn’t have power of attorney over Derek, meaning she can’t access any of his financial affairs or even have the legal right to see his medical notes because of data protection.
She said: “We had a whole conversation and Derek said we have to appoint power of attorney in case anything happens. He said I’d be his. And I’m sure I made some kind of joke, saying, ‘Well, you’re not being mine.’ And we were laughing and having all these sorts of jokes. So I know we’ve had that conversation. But it isn’t logged anywhere. Or if it is, I can’t find it.”
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