Kate Garraway has admitted she’s wants to show lockdown rulebreakers a picture of her husband Derek Draper, as he continues to battle COVID-19.
Fighting back tears the presenter, 53, revealed her husband’s parents had been unable to visit Derek since he’d been hospitalised back in March, and urged viewers to maintain government guidelines.
It comes following reports that Derek’s battle with coronavirus has become the ‘longest in the UK,’ after spending 184 days in and out of intensive care.
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Serious: Kate Garraway has issued a stark warning to people breaching lockdown guidelines as her husband Derek Draper continues to recover from COVID-19
An emotional Kate urged viewers to keep following the government guidelines, after host Susanna Reid asked for her feelings on the nation’s growing fatigue towards masks and social distancing.
She said: ‘I have huge sympathy with people who are fed up with it. I think if you haven’t been directly touched by it, you haven’t seen the devastation, your life has been devastated, your livelihood, your ability to feel a sense of joy, you’re going to get frustrated.
‘It does make me tempted to show a picture of Derek in his current state and say ”you don’t want this in your life. You don’t know who it will affect and how.” So stick to it.’
Fighting it: The presenter, 53, revealed her husband’s parents had been unable to visit Derek since he’d been hospitalised back in March (Kate and Derek are pictured in December 2019)
Hard: Kate urged viewers to keep following the government guidelines, after host Susanna Reid asked for her feelings on the growing fatigue towards masks and social distancing
‘There’s huge confusion around it, but we kind of know wearing a mask, social distancing, we know the basics, and we have to do our best in the muddle.’
‘There are so many shades of grey. If we stick to basics we can hopefully get through it.’
Struggling to fight back tears, Kate then added: ‘Derek’s mum and dad haven’t been able to see Derek.
‘If they can go six months without giving a hug to their son, who’s so desperately ill, the rest of us can probably get through.
Brutal: She said: ‘It does make me tempted to show a picture of Derek in his current state and say ”you don’t want this in your life. You don’t know who it will affect and how.” So stick to it’
Important: Fighting back tears, Kate added: ‘If they can go six months without giving a hug to their son, who’s so desperately ill, the rest of us can probably get through’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to depress everybody. That’s the reality of getting caught up in the virus directly.’
Earlier this week Lorraine Kelly also threw her support behind Kate as she lambasted anti-lockdown protesters as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘irresponsible.’
She said: ‘I was fuming at the weekend! The protests! I absolutely would love to take these people by the hand and show them the reality [of COVID-19]!’
On Monday it was reported that Kate’s husband Derek has reportedly become the longest surviving patient with coronavirus, after spending 184 days in and out of intensive care.
The former lobbyist, 53, was first hospitalised with the disease on March 29, he was on a ventilator and put in an induced coma shortly thereafter before he was woken up in July, but progress is said to be ‘very slow.’
According to a report from The Sun on Monday, Derek is one of ‘only a handful’ of people to be in hospital for six months with coronavirus.
A source speaking to the publication claimed: ‘Kate has been so brave and her strength is awe-inspiring. But the truth is that progress is very, very slow.
‘Derek has now been hospitalised for six months which makes him one of only a handful of people who have been in hospital for this long.
‘It’s incredibly tough for Kate though because some days he shows signs of improvement, and then 24 hours later he has taken a worrying turn for the worse. It’s literally one step forward, two steps back.’
The source went on to claim that Kate is thankful Derek is ‘still here’ as it means she has hope he will pull through after so many have lose their loved ones.
Derek was hospitalised after suffering serious complications from Covid-19 and has remained in intensive care ever since, in a minimally conscious state from which no one knows if he will ever recover.
Speaking to the Mail On Sunday’s YOU magazine about the family’s ordeal earlier this month, Kate revealed doctors had warned her Derek wouldn’t survive, and expressed her shock at seeing his appearance as his ‘worn-out and thin’ body struggled to fight the virus.
Derek, who she revealed has lost eight stone during the battle, is one of an estimated just five people in the world whose bodies have been damaged so much by Covid.
Kate recalled: ‘Doctors were saying, “He’s not going to make it.’Unable to breathe, he was put into a medical coma to give his lungs a rest. Before he went under, he called Kate and said, “I love you, you’ve saved my life.”
For several weeks, the family’s only contact with Derek was through hospital staff, so when Kate first saw her husband, she found him unrecognisable.
Kate recalled: ‘When I finally got to FaceTime him, seeing him unconscious was a big shock.
‘He’s lost nearly eight stone in weight, a lot of it muscle throughout his body. He looked worn-out, thin and pale with dark circles under his eyes and there were lots of tubes.’
In July Derek emerged from his deep coma and started showing some signs of consciousness, occasionally opening his eyes.
Only a few weeks ago, Kate was finally allowed to visit Derek in hospital. Coronavirus precautions mean the children and Derek’s parents haven’t been able to yet.
Kate and Derek married in 2005, and share daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 11.
Earlier this year, Kate took a break from work in order to look after their children in lockdown and be there for Derek, but has since returned to Good Morning Britain, and her mid-morning slot on Smooth Radio.