Kate Garraway opens up on celebrating husband Derek Draper’s birthday as he remains in hospital
19 August 2020, 14:33 | Updated: 19 August 2020, 14:53
Kate Garraway opens up on celebrating husband Derek's 'challenging' birthday
Kate Garraway opened up about celebrating her husband Derek Draper’s 53rd birthday as he remains in hospital after being put into a coma in April.
Derek is still in hospital after contracting coronavirus at the end of March, and being put into an induced coma in early April.
While Derek is now clear of Covid-19, he continues to battle the effects of the virus.
Speaking about celebrating her husband’s birthday with their two children, Darcey and Billy, Kate said: “It was Derek’s birthday on Saturday as well, which was obviously a challenging one under the circumstances.
Read more: Kate Garraway gives moving update on husband Derek Draper's condition
“We managed to FaceTime him and sing happy birthday. We had a cake which we had on FaceTime. So we tried to mark the moment.
Kate Garraway reveals touching note her husband left for her
“It’s very challenging, they’re [Darcey and Billy] doing brilliantly with it though. We just thought for us, we did it with Derek’s family as well, we managed to technically hook up and sing happy birthday. We just hope the love seeps through.”
Smooth Radio presenter Kate confirmed last month that Derek is out of the “deep coma”, and is now in a “minimal state of consciousness”, but that the virus had “wreaked havoc on his body”.
Read more: Kate Garraway gives new update on husband Derek Draper's health: ‘He has damage everywhere’
He is now receiving therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), with Kate previously noting it was frustrating to have only just started as she had offered to donate blood to him months ago.
Speaking Dr Amir Khan on Good Morning Britain, Kate said: “I was looking for anything that I was able to do. But they said we are months away from being confident enough to clean your blood.”
Kate Garraway says she doesn't know if her husband will ever recover
Kate pointed out: “The doctors that I was speaking to in America were doing it regularly [for months]... why were we slow to do this?”
Dr Amir confirmed that it wasn't due to a lack of knowledge that they hadn't done so, but more due to a lack of technology and resources.
Read more: Kate Garraway confirms husband Derek Draper is 'stable': 'His eyes were open, he looked focused'
He said: “I agree with you, it should have been used earlier.”
Everyone at Smooth is thinking of Derek, Kate, Darcey and Billy, and continue to wish for Derek's recovery.
