Kate Garraway is facing the agonising wait on news of husband Derek Draper's heath battle, after the 52-year-old fell in with coronavirus in April, which has left him fighting for his life in a coma for the past ten weeks. In a new interview with The Sun, the Good Morning Britain presenter revealed that her ten-year-old son Billy has made a fort next to his dad's empty bed, and has been sleeping there each night. Kate told the publication: "Derek is such an amazing dad. He's brilliant with the kids, and that's one of the reasons why this is so hard. It just doesn't feel right without him."
VIDEO: Kate Garraway describes the moment Derek went into a coma
The I'm a Celebrity star continued: "One of the things that makes it so sad is that I know he would have loved this, our time together in lockdown. He was never happier than being in this house, just the four of us. He is such a homebody. He would say: 'It's just you, me and the kids' and he'd be so happy just pottering about, being here and doing a bit of work on his computer." Kate added that while Derek remains in hospital, the family have been keeping his favourite sun chair empty. "No one is allowed to sit in that. It's Derek's. He sits there when it's sunny and says: 'It's so lovely here – who needs posh Tuscany?'"
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© Photo: RexKate Garraway's son Billy has been sleeping next to Derek's bed
On Friday, Kate bravely returned to GMB to give viewers an update on Derek's health battle, and how it had impacted their family. The star explained that Derek was now coronavirus free, but that the illness had played havoc with his body, impacting his internal organs, including his heart and kidneys. The mother-of-two also revealed Derek's emotional last words to his children as he was taken into an ambulance. She said: "They put him in the ambulance and put a mask on him to breathe and Darcey and Billy came out all worried and said 'You're the best children anybody could ever ask for, look after mum, be good for her.' He went into the ambulance and that was it. Went into hospital and went straight to intensive care."
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© Photo: RexKate updated GMB viewers on Derek's health battle in an emotional interview
When Derek was in hospital, he kept asking Kate to ask the doctors to put him in a coma so that he could rest his lungs, but the doctors said they needed to wait all the while his lungs were still working. However, the TV presenter then received a phone call from the doctors telling her that he was going to be put in a coma. They told Kate: "We've got him here we're going to put him in a coma, he can hear you, he is right here."
On Derek's final words to her, Kate tearfully told viewers: "He said, 'I love you, I have to leave you.' And I said, 'It's only for 3 or 4 days and you're going to be fine, this is good because this is what you wanted and it will allow you to rest' and he just said, 'You've saved my life,' because I think he thought I had persuaded the doctors to put him in a coma, obviously I hadn't. "He said: 'You saved my life and I don't just mean now, I mean everything, being married to you and the children, you've saved my life' and then I said 'I love you, I love you', and the doctors said, 'He's gone, he is under,' and that's it, that's the last time I spoke to him".
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