Kate Garraway has opened up about the moment that she was told her husband Derek Draper might be "locked in [a coma] forever". Speaking to The Sun, the Good Morning Britain host detailed the night that a senior doctor in the intensive care unit told her over the phone: "I'm not telling you this to scare you. It’s because we don’t know if he can recover. We’ll only know over the coming weeks and months." In response to the devastating news, Kate recalled: "I threw up, there and then."
WATCH: Kate Garraway describes the moment Derek Draper went into a coma
The mother-of-two explained that she received the phone call on a Friday night, and can "remember exactly where I was sitting and what I was wearing". The first question she asked was: "Is Derek still alive?" The doctor confirmed that he was, but it was then that Kate was told that she may not ever speak to her husband again.
MORE: Ben Shephard praises 'remarkable' friend Kate Garraway after emotional interview
© Photo: RexKate and her son Billy clap for NHS workers
"There was a terrible phone call two weeks ago from a senior doctor in the intensive care unit," Kate began. "It was late at night on a Friday and I remember exactly where I was sitting and what I was wearing. My first question, the one I always ask when the hospital call, was, 'Is Derek still alive?' and he said he was, but then asked me what my greatest fear was.
"I said, 'Derek dying' and he replied, 'Well, now I think I have to give you a second worst-case scenario, which is that he never changes from this. That he is locked in this forever'. He said, 'I’m not telling you this to scare you. It’s because we don’t know if he can recover. We’ll only know over the coming weeks and months.'"
Unable to fully process the upsetting update, Kate vomited, revealing that although she had been told that her husband might die, she had not heard that he may remain in his current state forever. The TV star continued: "I threw up, there and then. People had said to me before that they thought he was going to die, but not that he might stay in this state.
"It’s like a second level of loss. We may lose him even if we don’t lose him. If he doesn’t wake up, then he’s sort of lost anyway… not that I’d love him any less or ever give up. I’d fly all over the world to find a cure if there was one, but all this is unprecedented."
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
