Kate Garraway says husband Derek is 'devastated by Covid and still can't move'

KATE Garraway has revealed that her husband Derek "still can't move" after his life was "devastated" by Covid-19.

Appearing on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, the 54-year-old TV presenter discussed the "appalling time" her family had suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.

Derek, who currently needs 24-hour care following his year-long fight back to health from coronavirus, returned home for the first time last month.

Kate, 54, explained that while they are "a few weeks in" to having him back, the former lobbyist is a "long way" from the Derek Draper everyone knew.

She told Andrew of her husband's condition: "He is devastated by Covid. He can't really move, his communication is minimal.

"There are moment when they're up, so in those moment you feel you know he's in there. He was a lot of memory but accessing it is limited."

Kate heartbreakingly concluded: "He is a long way from the Derek Draper you knew, but he is home and alive."

It comes after Kate reflected on "many, very dark hours" amid Derek’s Covid battle as she thanked the nurses on Heart radio.

Discussing the NHS on International Nurses Day, she thanked the team around Derek for their "incredible care" that “hauled Derek back from the frightening place he was in”.

Chatting to hosts Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston, she told listeners: “I often think we all go 'that doctor who saved my life', 'thank you to that incredible surgeon'.

"But as I’ve seen over the last 14 months, it’s actually the care of nurses that – especially when you’re dealing with something like COVID where there is no cure, and not enough is yet known about how to treat the symptoms.

"It’s their incredible care that has saved Derek’s life. It’s that simple.”

She went on to say how she was previously “ignorant” about the work nurses do and their “wide spectrum” of talents.

Kate explained: “With Derek for a lot of his time, he was in a coma, and everyday the nurses would go in, of course we couldn’t, his family couldn’t, and they would go in and I just thought it was miraculous because they would say, 'Good morning Derek, how are you this morning?. 

“And if you think about having to exude love out of yourself to someone who is unconscious, not responsive, not able to say thank you, not able to acknowledge it, they did it continuously, relentlessly and that must have been what was a big part of trying to haul Derek from this frightening place he was in.”

Derek currently needs 24-hour care after leaving hospital following his year-long fight back to health from coronavirus.

Writing a book about the experience, Kate has seen The Power of Hope soar to the top of the best seller list just days after being published.

The TV presenter's chart news comes after the broadcaster revealed she feels like she’s starting a "whole new chapter" with her husband.

She believes Derek "will improve" after returning home following a year in hospital fighting off Covid and the damage it had wreaked on his body.

"It’s just a whole new chapter that we’re starting on now, which is him at home and seeing how he can recover, seeing how he can recover and where he can go," Kate told Times Radio.

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