Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper has been sleeping at home in a hospital bed in the family’s lounge, The Sun reported.
Kate spent thousands of pounds converting their North London home to accommodate him, following his long Covid battle.
This week, Derek, 53, has thankfully returned to his family home where he will continue to receive round-the-clock care at the family’s converted property.
Derek spent a year in hospital and was one of Britain’s longest surviving Covid-19 patients.
Speaking openly on Good Morning Britain on Friday Kate, 53, said: “They’ve both just not stopped cuddling him and actually it was a very late night… we were all lying in a bed, I came back downstairs to sleep in the same room as Derek.
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“Bill said, and Darcey agreed, they both just said, ‘Mum, he is home, let’s just take that in, he’s home’ and I said, ‘Yes, he is, that’s great’. They’re just delighted he’s home. I’m trying to balance the emotions of the next stage.”
The presenter expressed: “We’ve got to stay positive and have hope. We’ll get there. He’s here!”
Doctors reported that Derek had been “universally affected” by covid. This means his lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas had all been hit by covid.
When Derek was at his worst, hospital staff feared that he might remain in a vegetative state permanently and In January, Kate admitted that her husband’s body was being “ravaged by coronavirus”.
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Though the presenter has spent thousands of pounds restructuring her home to ensure it’s fit for Derek and his medical needs, Kate also faces medical bills running into the tens of thousands, according to reports.
At the moment, Derek is sleeping downstairs on a medical bed and will use a makeshift wet room for showering.
Kate gave viewers a chance to see the work in progress in her ITV documentary Finding Derek last month.
The GMB presenter said: “We’re in the kitchen, as you can see we’ve got sofas in our kitchen and our front room is now his bedroom.
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“I thought I’d got it really ready and then the experts arrived and said, ‘Right we’ve got to get all this out’ because obviously you know chairs and sofas and everything have to go because there’s a lot of kit, there’s a huge amount of kit that comes with him.
“So, I think the next two and three days I’ll be putting lots of things in plastic boxes. But it’s all fantastic.”
Kate recently admitted that since Derek’s return from the hospital she hasn’t been able to sleep in the last 48 hours or so, as she makes adjustments to living family life as a four again.
The star said: “We do need a lot of help. And it’s not just help with looking after him, because it is 24-hour care, and I haven’t really slept as you can probably tell.
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She continued: ”So he’s probably got a little bit used to the people in hospital and so it’s a new team now that are working with him and helping him to come through.
“It’s going to take a lot of adjustment. But on top of the care side, there’s the very specialised therapeutic intervention, which will have to come in to make sure that this isn’t just about getting him with us for us, it’s hoping that actually this will prompt… some recovery.
“He’s definitely sort of plateaued at this level. Obviously, we’re very grateful for this level but want to see if we can move forward, if we can get him speaking more, able to move more and see what we can draw out.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
