Kate Garraway has revealed how she video calls her husband Derek Draper while having dinner with their children at home.
Speaking ahead of her ITV documentary airing on Tuesday, Kate told The Mirror that the family have done everything possible to keep him in involved during his hospital stay and she thinks ‘the sounds of home’ must be ‘comforting’.
The TV presenter, 53, is also set to admit that she’d be willing to give up her role on Good Morning Britain to be her partner’s ‘primary carer’ if she needs too.
Strong family: Kate Garraway has revealed she video calls her husband Derek Draper while having dinner with their children at home so they can eat as a family (pictured with Darcey and Billy in 2019)
The mother-of-two said: ‘I’ll prop the iPad up on the kitchen table and the three of us will have our tea and have Dad there.
‘I feel that the sounds of home, even if it’s not directly talking at him, must be very comforting.’
In the upcoming emotional documentary, Derek will be seen recovering in hospital and watching his children Darcey, 15, and Billy, 11, as they live through lockdown.
Moving scenes are set to show him watching his children rehearse a dance routine and also see Billy complete and impressive Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon
Involved: The TV presenter, 53, detailed how during his year-long stay in hospital recovering from coronavirus the family have done everything possible to keep Derek updated on what’s happening at home (the former lobbyist pictured in hospital)
Darcey and Billy also chat about their father’s illness and what they’re worried about for the future during the show.
Darcey said: ‘It’s not really scary in the way he looks scary, it’s just scary in the way we might lose him.’
According to The Sun, Kate will also admit she’d give up working to look after her husband and help aid his recovery.
She said: ‘If I have to give up work to care for him it’s best to do it now. If he needs 24-hour care, I’ll be the primary carer. I’ve a fear of the reality. We’ll have to fall in love again a bit.’
Kate also chatted about her plans to bring Derek home to live with her with The Mirror, saying there’s some clinical arguments for moving him to a more ‘normal’ environment, and adding: ‘I’ve never loved Derek more or feared losing him more.’
Willing to leave: Kate has also said she’d give up work if Derek needs her to be his carer (pictured on Good Morning Britain with Ben Shephard)
Although remaining positive for the future, Kate admitted there will be challenges to his care but that the more therapy and help he can get now, the better his long-term prognosis will be.
It reported on Monday that the GMB star has already converted her home for Derek’s return.
Kate has made their North London property wheelchair accessible and installed a hospital bed in the lounge as the virus has damaged the former lobbyist’s muscles.
Viewers will be able to see the renovation work take place when the Good Morning Britain star’s documentary, Kate Garraway: Finding Derek, airs on Tuesday.
The broadcaster transformed the ground floor of their house last year as she hoped the author would have recovered before the third lockdown, but sadly, his condition hasn’t improved and she hasn’t been able to see him since Christmas.
Family: During the documentary, Derek is seen watching his children rehearse dance moves on FaceTime (pictured)
Kate shared an update on her long-term partner in an interview with The Mirror, admitting: ‘He has changed. Derek is physically very affected. His legs are like sticks, he has no muscle left. In terms of his movement, he’s physically affected.’
In a teaser clip from the programme, the TV star recalls the ‘devastating’ moment Derek told her he feared he couldn’t go on.
Kate says it was ‘terrible’ to think he had reached such a low point as they spoke on the phone.
She confesses: ‘Derek had been drifting in and out of consciousness and when he said that, it was absolutely devastating, but it showed me he was still in there. Even though it was terrible to think his spirits were so low’.
Kate also tells her husband he will get better with time, before he can eventually resume his old life.
Changes: Kate has also converted her home for when Derek returns making it wheelchair accessible and putting a hospital bed in the lounge
Harrowing: In a teaser clip from the programme, the media personality recalls the ‘devastating’ moment Derek told her he feared he couldn’t go on
Emotional: Another glimpse at the documentary, which airs on Tuesday, shows Kate holding her head in her hands during the tough time
Fans will later see Kate vowing to save Derek as she helped to bring him back from his darkest point back in November.
The TV star explained to The Mirror that she had to go to GMB after being up all night with Derek.
She said: ‘And in the end, I said to him, ‘Just stay with me, I’m going to keep talking to you’. And he was obviously exhausted. Because that’s the other thing, is that the tiniest thing completely exhausts him.’
The ITV star spoke to Derek on the drive into work that day and then told the doctor’s to put on Good Morning Britain so he could see her.
Long-term: The TV star and psychotherapist Derek, also 53, share children Darcey, 15, and Billy, 11, and have been married since 2005 (pictured in 2008)
While Covid is no longer in Derek’s system, the virus left him battling kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure and damage to his pancreas.
The journalist first invited a crew into her home last September with the hope that the film would end with him returning home.
But seven months later, the show will instead focus on his stint in hospital as well as the many months of recovery that are left.
The psychotherapist has lost eight stone, with Kate claiming he will behave differently.
However, she believes his comeback may be a ‘beautiful thing’ as they will have the chance to fall in love all over again.
Tragic: While Covid is no longer in Derek’s system, the virus left him battling kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure and damage to his pancreas (Kate pictured in the programme)
During an appearance on The One Show last Thursday, the media personality said her spouse is ‘trapped in the middle ground’ as he is sometimes able to communicate with her before slipping out of consciousness.
Kate said: ‘One of things I’m here to talk about is the documentary and what you will see is that this time last year, I was, like a lot of us, wondering what was coming our way.
‘I was fearing the worst, on air reading headlines about the earliest cases of people contracting coronavirus and then I suddenly found myself right in the middle of it.
‘And I’d say there was weeks and months of living minute by minute, wondering if I was going to get the call to say whether he lived or died.’
His rock: Fans will later see Kate vowing to save Derek as she helped to bring him back from his darkest point back in November
Derek is considered to be the longest surviving COVID-19 patient in the country, and on more than one occasion his heart stopped beating, he battled bacterial pneumonia and fought multiple infections which punctured holes in his lungs.
She previously said: ‘What I feel like is that I’m on a life boat somehow and he’s coming up and down. You’re on this precipice trying to hold onto him.
‘There’ll be moments where he bubbles up and you have contact with him on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions. ‘It feels like you’re going to have to fill him with so much positivity because he’s going to sink down.
‘His brain has always been his best friend. Suddenly his brain is no longer his best friend and he’s fighting to get out. It’s very, very tough. But if it’s tough for me, it must be tougher for him.’