Derek Draper back in hospital with sepsis, Kate Garraway reveals

‘We are again fighting to get him home’

Kate Garraway has revealed that her husband Derek Draper has once again been hospitalised with sepsis.

The former political advisor and author contracted Covid-19 in March 2020 and has been receiving 24-hour care ever since.

He fought against sepsis in August and was able to return home, but is once again in hospital as the condition “threatened his life”, Garraway said.

The ITV broadcaster wrote in The Sun on Wednesday (12 October): “Derek is back in hospital after developing sepsis that again threatened his life and we are again fighting to get him home.

“But I remain constantly inspired by those around him – not just for their expertise but for their loving care.”

Garraway praised both professional and untrained carers who have cared for Draper since he was first hospitalised and placed in an induced coma more than two years ago.

Draper woke up after several months but continued being treated in hospital, before he was finally able to go home more than 12 months after he was first admitted.

His wife and family, as well as a team of healthcare professionals provide him with 24-hour care at home.

Garraway recalled Draper’s recent birthday in August, when his nurses wrote him a touching message in a birthday card.

“[They wrote], ‘We celebrate every day your braveness and strength to keep going through the pain, struggles and setbacks’,” she said.

“And then added, ‘But today on your birthday, we want to celebrate you, Derek, the man, not the trauma, but you as a person’.

“That is care, to me, in its purest form – how wonderful if we as a society could value the importance of it as much as I know Derek and millions of others do every day,” she added.

The couple have been married since 2005 and share two children, Darcey and Billy.

(ITV)

Earlier this week, Garraway spoke candidly about the reality of caring for her husband and said she has felt “frustrated, depressed and emotional” since he fell ill.

In an Instagram video to mark World Mental Health Day on Monday (10 October), she explained that the documentary Caring for Derek, which details her experience, was made to “highlight carers, professional carers, and carers who are doing it for love and the tough challenge that that involves”.

She added: “As much as you don’t begrudge doing it, it’s very hard. You saw me frustrated, depressed, emotional, and I’ve been all of those and more in recent weeks and months.”