GMB: Kate Garraway says having husband Derek home for Christmas after Covid-19 is ‘the biggest gift’

Draper spent a year in hospital after contracting coronavirus

Kate Garraway has said that being able to spend Christmas Eve with her husband Derek Draper after he spent last year’s in intensive care with Covid-19 is the “biggest gift”.

Draper returned to his family home earlier this year, having spent a year in hospital after contracting coronavirus.

Presenting Good Morning Britain on Friday (24 December), Garraway said that while there was still a “long, long way to go” with his recovery, she was grateful to have her husband home for the holidays.

“Obviously, he still has extraordinary problems with communication, mobility is very limited, massive problems with fatigue,” she said.

“Last Christmas Eve, we did have a lot of promise and a lot of hope. But Derek was in hospital. We had no idea whether he was going to live or die, praying that it was going in the right direction.”

Garraway said that she was thankful for the NHS staff that had kept Draper alive while so many people had died of Covid-19.

“This year, of course, he’s home so we are spending Christmas together, and that is the biggest gift,” she said.

“It’s kind of hard to get your head around really. But we have still got fears. Still got a long, long way to go. And still hugely grateful for everyone that kept him alive and saved his life thus far.”

She also thanked care staff who had visited him in their family home, saying that “without them we wouldn’t be able to be together”.

Earlier this year, Garraway won a National Television Award for Kate Garraway: Finding Derek, a documentary about her family’s experience during the pandemic.

Garraway and Draper have two children.

Additional reporting by Press Association.