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Lorraine Kelly has branded her ITV colleague Kate Garraway ‘incredible’ amid her husband’s prolonged battle with COVID-19.
The Lorraine host, 61, told MailOnline that Kate’s partner Derek’s illness profoundly affected the entire morning team at ITV, given their close-knit relationship.
Derek, 53, spent 12 months in hospital after contracting the deadly disease in 2020 and is now being cared for at home, with Lorraine saying of this: ‘It hit us all really hard when Kate’s husband got COVID. He got it very badly of course.
‘It hit us hard’: Lorraine Kelly has branded her ITV colleague Kate Garraway ‘incredible’ amid her husband’s prolonged battle with COVID-19
‘And with that and having Dr Hillary [Jones] on out team, we were so on it at ITV. Everything was done so well in terms of safety and social distancing and hand-washing.’
Of Derek’s ordeal, she added: ‘He is back home. And it’s a case of baby steps. But Katie is just incredible.’
Of what she misses most amid the pandemic – which saw Lorraine merge her morning show with Good Morning Britain for several weeks at the start of the first lockdown – Lorraine said: ‘Travel is my joy and I miss it so much. You should see my fridge with all the magnets on it of places we’ve been.
‘When we can I want to go to Antarctica, Greenland, the Far East…’
‘Incredible’: The Lorraine host, 61, told MailOnline that Kate’s partner Derek’s illness profoundly affected the entire morning team at ITV, given their close-knit relationship
Trauma: Derek, 53, spent 12 months in hospital after contracting the deadly disease in 2020 and is now being cared for at home, with Lorraine saying of this – ‘It hit us all really hard when Kate’s husband got COVID. He got it very badly of course’
Yet Lorraine has been embracing travelling close to home in the meantime.
‘I went to Orkney – it was just joyful. I’ve had my two jabs so I was confident about it. Not just for myself, for everyone else around me.
‘But because you take a ferry to Orkney it felt a bit like I was going overseas. An adventure. I loved it there. And the Outer Hebrides. It’s like another world.
‘I just can’t wait to get out and explore abroad when it’s safe. But in the meantime I’m just doing more day trips; exploring England, Wales, Northern Ireland. We have an amazing country. But I can’t wait to get travelling again, everyone needs it, we really do.’
Last week, Kate revealed she was informed her husband Derek probably ‘wouldn’t recover’ if he didn’t make progress in the two years after he caught COVID-19.
According to the Good Morning Britain presenter, 54, she was told by her doctor that ‘there is very little chance of him making a meaningful recovery’, if he fails to make significant improvements in the allotted time period.
Tragic: Kate revealed she was informed that her husband Derek Draper probably ‘won’t recover’ if he doesn’t make progress in the first two years
Kate disclosed that Derek’s neurologist, known as Dr W, also said ‘time and waiting are your friends’ because he ‘had never seen anything like this before so can’t personally chart the recovery’, reports The Daily Star.
However, when she pressed him on how much time to allow for his recovery, she was shocked to learn his estimate time frame of two years.
Derek was hospitalised in March 2020 and was placed in a medically induced coma before he awoke in July.
The virus caused havoc throughout his entire body, resulting in kidney failure, liver and pancreatic damage.
Illness: Derek, 53, has already spent 12 months in hospital after contracting the deadly disease in 2020 and the former lobbyist is now being cared for at home
On more than one occasion his heart stopped beating, he battled bacterial pneumonia and fought multiple infections which punctured holes in his lungs. He is considered to be the longest surviving Covid-19 patient in the country.
Despite returning to his North London home to be with Kate and their children, Darcey, 15, and William, 11, in April, he still needs round-the-clock care.
In an exert of her new book, The Power Of Hope, she recalled her conversation with Dr W and said: ‘I had already waited so long.
‘”How long before you know more? Not how long will it take for him to recover, because you don’t know if he can even recover, but how long before you might know more?”
Tragic: The GMB host, 54, said she was told by her doctor that ‘there is very little chance of him making a meaningful recovery’, if he fails to make improvements in the allotted time period
Shock: Derek was hospitalised in March 2020 and the virus caused havoc throughout his body, resulting in kidney failure, liver and pancreatic damage and it stopped his heart from beating
‘It was a confusing question, but I knew what I meant and he seemed to as well.’
She continued: ‘After another long pause, he looked straight at me, then away. “Well, Kate” – the first time he had used my name – “I think it’s fair to say if he is still like this after two years we will know there is very little chance of him making any meaningful recovery.”
‘”TWO YEARS!” I screamed inside my head.’
Family: Despite returning to his North London home to be with Kate and their children, Darcey, 15, and William, 11, in April, (pictured in 2019) he still needs round-the-clock care
‘Up until now I had been living by the minute, hours on the phone monitoring infection levels and statistics, trying to get a handle on where Derek was, wondering every time I went to sleep if he would still be alive in the morning.
‘How could I go on like this for another two years? Worse still, how could Derek be trapped like this for two years? The timescale winded me and I’m sure I must have slumped a bit in the chair.’
Kate added that an intensive-care specialist, who was also present, explained the challenges that lay ahead.
Stepping out: Kate was pictured stepping out in London on Thursday ahead of presenting her Smooth FM radio show at London’s Global Studios
Beauty: The TV star left her blonde locks loose in a tousled hairdo, adding a slick of make-up
She added: ‘He said, “Derek is still very sick, at serious risk of dying. But even if he can live, and begin to recover from the huge damage Covid has wreaked throughout his body, it’s not going to be quick.
‘”And you are going to have to bear that journey never knowing if he might ever be the person he was before, knowing he might never truly come back to you. You just have to give us time and be strong.”‘
Struggling to come to terms with the news, she reflected: ‘I sensed they were trying to wrap things up. But I couldn’t take in what they were saying. I wanted space to take it in. I didn’t want to wrap up on this level of bleakness.’
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