Ben Shephard has revealed Kate Garraway has a ‘huge responsibility’ caring for her husband Derek Draper after it was revealed he’s finally home from hospital.
Describing it as being like caring for a newborn baby, the presenter said close friend Kate has the help for a 24-hour care team looking after Derek and he still ‘needs’ to be looked after even though he’s left hospital.
It comes after Ben fought back tears on Friday’s Good Morning Britain following the news that Derek had finally returned home after a year-long battle with Covid.
Speaking on This Morning, Ben said: ‘She described it as coming home with a newborn, you’ve been waiting to bring him home but it’s a huge responsibility.
Important: Ben Shephard has revealed Kate Garraway has a ‘huge responsibility’ caring for her husband Derek after it was revealed he’s finally home from hospital
‘She’s got a huge team around her, he still needs 24 hr care, he’s not walking around making a cup of tea, he needs this care.’
He added: ‘I think it’s been going on for a very long time now and lots of your viewers saw the documentary and the whole plan of it was to chart his journey and hopefully at the end of it we can be home together and that didn’t happen.
‘At the end of it, it says he was due to stay until the end of the year, but that’s changed dramatically in the last week or so.
‘Whereas in the documentary he was making progress, but because the family couldn’t see him in second lockdown he was going backwards a bit and so they decided to bring him home to help stimulate him so all of a sudden he’s back.’
News they’ve been waiting for: Describing it as being like caring for a newborn baby, the presenter said Kate has the help of a 24-hour care team looking after Derek
Conversation: Speaking on This Morning, Ben said: ‘She described it as coming home with a newborn, you’ve been waiting to bring him home but it’s a huge responsibility’
Progress: Kate appeared on Friday’s GMB to discuss Derek’s return home from hospital admitting he still needs round-the-clock care to aid in his recovery
Ben added that Kate’s ordeal could have happened to anyone, telling Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford: ‘I think Kate is very aware of that, people have been through similar situations, or people who haven’t been able to bring their loved one home or they have lost their loved ones.
‘She’s doing an amazing job. She’s been a full time mum to bill and Darcy, they’re old enough to understand what’s going on.
‘While he is home and it’s so exciting to have him there there’s a huge step they have to go through.’
On Friday’s GMB, Ben was visibly emotional as he admitted that when Derek was first admitted to hospital last March he reassured himself he’d ‘be fine,’ but added he was ‘anything but fine,’ as his health deteriorated.
Ben also offered his own kind words to Kate after she appeared on GMB to discuss the emotional moment Derek was brought home from hospital after a year in intensive care.
Emotional: It comes after Ben fought back tears on Friday’s Good Morning Britain following the news that Derek had finally returned home after a year-long battle with Covid
Sad: The star was visibly emotional as he admitted that when Derek was first admitted to hospital last March he reassured himself he’d ‘be fine,’ but added he was ‘anything but’
At the start of the show Ben reflected on a challenging year for his close friend Kate, telling co-host Ranvir Singh they were ‘all smiling’ upon learning the news of Derek’s return home.
He said: ‘I think it’s really important that as Kate said, she can’t share with us exactly where he is and he has a long, long way to go but this is a monumental step.’
‘I remember sitting with her about a year ago and her telling me he had gone into hospital and what that felt like and just thinking at the time ‘he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be fine’ and it hasn’t been.’
Progress: At the start of the show he told Ranvir Singh: ‘As Kate said, she can’t share with us exactly where he is and he has a long, long way to go but this is a monumental step’
The star added: ‘It’s been anything but fine and not just for Kate, but everyone up and down the country who have been through this and lived this as well.’
Earlier in the show Ben also thanked viewers for their kind words and revealed Kate would be making an appearance on the show following the news her husband Derek was finally home from hospital.
‘We are all smiling this morning,’ he said. ‘Living at home with Kate means an awful lot to us and it’s lovely when we see the messages about how excited and pleased you are.
‘It is the first step on a very long journey trying to work out how it will unfold and what he needs.’
Later in the show Kate herself appeared on GMB to discuss the moment husband Derek returned home and was reunited with his children after more than a year in intensive care.
The journalist revealed that daughter Darcey, 15, and son Billy, 11, were overwhelmed as they saw their father, while Derek immediately burst into tears at the reunion.
Kate added that Derek is ‘aware’ that he’s home and ‘is responding all the time’ but he is unable to talk as she tearfully recalled moments from the last few days, including setting the table for four people instead of three, after a year of it being just her and the children at home.
She recalled: ‘When we came in the door and pulled up, I could see Darcey and Billy looking out the window and they ran out and ran to the door and he immediately burst into tears and there was a lot of hugging.
‘He knew he was home. He is responding all the time, what he’s not able to do is talk. But he is responding and aware where he is. There have been so many lovely little moments – he can swallow a little bit now so I said “lets get you round the table for a little bit.”‘
She said that it felt ‘like the start of a new chapter but a really really big important one’, remarking on the significance of setting the dinner table for four instead of three.
Kate began to well up as she spoke about making Derek one of her casseroles, explaining: ‘As I was laying out the plates I realised I was laying out four, it makes me cry now, and Darcey was saying, “Oh, we’re going to put four spoons down“.
Discussing Derek’s ongoing health needs, she explained: ‘He can’t really move, he needs a lot of help. It’s 24/7 care. I haven’t really slept as you can probably tell.
‘It’s a new team now helping him and working with him. It’s going to take a lot of adjustment. On top of the care side there’s also the therapeutic side. This isn’t just for us, but helping it will prompt some recovery’.
The TV presenter, 53, has had their family home adapted so that Derek, also 53, could come back and receive round-the-clock care at their North London property. Kate is now believed to be facing medical bills costing her tens of thousands.
Former lobbyist Derek has now been taken off all hospital machines, but his family have been warned he still has a long way to go to recover from the virus.
Kate explained that while she’s pleased to see Derek’s progress, things seem to have slowed down. She revealed: ‘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.
‘It’s going to be very slow and a bit of wait and see. The physiotherapy, the occupational therapy, neuropsychology as well and speech and language therapy all working on a programme.
‘What they’ve said is purpose is what they hope will come in, so when they see the children playing, will it perhaps prompt him more to say, “What you building with your Lego, Bill?“ or “What are you doing Darcey?“ rather than a forced situation in a vacuum in a room with people in PPE.’
She added that their children have been ‘amazing’ throughout, stating ‘they’ve both just not stopped cuddling him’.
An insider told the Sun that the family they have wept tears of joy, adding: ‘Kate’s dreamt of this day for so long, and can’t thank wonderful NHS staff enough.’
A family friend declared Kate has been ‘dreaming of this day’, and said: ‘The children, who have been so resilient, have been so, so happy to have their dad home. There have been a lot of happy tears from everyone.
‘This past year has given Derek and Kate an absolutely unbreakable bond — she has been such a rock, and a total inspiration to everyone in Britain battling their own horror stories with the pernicious disease.’
It was reported by the publication that Derek was taken by ambulance back to his home on Wednesday after he began regularly responding while under the care of doctors in hospital.
It has been confirmed that Derek is Britain’s longest surviving Covid hospital patient after he was first admitted with breathing difficulties on March 30 last year.
Derek was put on a ventilator and spent months in a form of coma before uttering his first word – ‘pain’ – in October last year.
The father of two’s body has been ‘universally affected’ by the condition, which means that it has targeted his lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.
Kate has reportedly spent ‘thousands’ on renovating their family home to support Derek’s return. It was revealed last week that Kate has taken control of her husband’s business affairs, a year after he contracted Covid.