Kate Garraway reveals she'd give 'anything' to hear Derek sing as she opens up on stimulating his recovery

Kate Garraway
(Image credit: Getty)

Kate Garraway has confessed she'd give 'anything' to hear Derek sing as she opens up on the kids stimulating his recovery.

Kate Garraway has admitted she'd give 'anything' to hear her husband Derek Draper sing as he used to as she opens up on the ways the children have been stimulating his recovery.

Derek spent more than a year in the hospital's intensive care unit after contracting Coronavirus last March, and after awakening from his coma, he has continued to battle the effects of long Covid and has suffered damage to his liver and pancreas, along with the clots in his lungs.

He returned home earlier this year to receive around-the-clock specialist care and be with his family, wife Kate and their two children, daughter Darcey, 15, and son Billy, 12.

Kate, who is set to make a big move to the BBC after an important announcement, told Piers Morgan's wife Celia Walden, "I would give everything I own to hear him being really loud and shouty and full of opinions, ruffling feathers in the way that he used to.’

Derek Draper

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 27: Derek Draper attends the gala screening of 'Rio' at Empire Leicester Square on March 27, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Jon Furniss/WireImage)

"The way he wouldn’t be able to do anything until he’d had his bath. The way he would sing so loudly in the mornings – and was generally just so loud! It would drive me mad."

Kate, who recently dressed up as Elton John for her radio show as part of Global's Make Some Noise charity day, also revealed she misses 'squabbling' with her husband.

Kate Garraway

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Kate Garraway arriving at Smooth Radio Studios at Global Radio Studios in Leicester Square to support 'Global's Make Some Noise Day' on October 08, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Neil Mockford/GC Images)

In the interview for The Sunday Telegraph magazine Kate said she even misses the disagreements and squabbles and admitted that when they had a difference of opinion she'd say, 'Why did you have to do that?' to which Derek would reply, 'Darling, I’m the grit in your oyster.'

But her children have been playing a huge part in Derek's recovery by involving him in normal family activities.

‘We take our food in and eat it with him, and play board games to try and encourage him to join in, in any way he can. Because the general belief is that as much stimulation as possible is great. But he also needs rest, so it’s about trying to keep that balance right,’ Kate explained.

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Kate Garraway won a National Television Award for her ITV documentary Finding Derek, and there are plans for more filming.

Kate told The Sun, 'We are going to make another documentary, there are plans for more.

'Derek has a very short window of energy, but we are trying. He has been home for four months now and it was enough for him being home.

'Now we are really hoping we can have more and more people in to see him.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9owwwHzS3R4

Kate celebrated a little win when Derek gave her a birthday surprise.

Kate told her ITV colleague Lorraine, "At the moment the family and I are looking for lots of little things with Derek - he's home, we can hug him; that's miracle in itself.

"And then we're looking for little bits of him to come back to us. Last night I said to him 'oh it's my birthday tomorrow' and he looked a bit worried and I said 'don't worry, I'm not expecting anything, my birthday present is you being home and I'm going to pop in and see you before I go early.'

"I came in this morning and said 'I'm off to Lorraine now, is there anything you want to say to me?' and he said 'oh happy birthday.'"

Selina Maycock
Senior Family Writer

Selina is a Senior Family Writer for GoodtoKnow and has more than 16 years years of experience. She specialises in royal family news, including the latest activities of Prince George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet. She also covers the latest government, health and charity advice for families. Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism, and gained her NCTJ and NCE qualifications. During her career, she’s also written for Woman, Woman's Own, Woman&Home, and Woman's Weekly as well as Heat magazine, Bang Showbiz - and the Scunthorpe Telegraph. When she's not covering family news, you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories (including award-winning scarecrows!)