Kate Garraway has taken a break away after her husband suffered a terrifying setback. There was concern for the Good Morning Britain star when she suddenly went missing from the ITV news programme in July.
Her co-stars later confirmed that Derek Draper was back in hospital and sent their love to Kate, without elaborating on the reasons behind his recent hospital dash.
But after three weeks, she was back at the helm of the ITV news programme on August 2 alongside Richard Madeley. She confirmed her return the night before on social media, telling her loyal followers that she had time off as her husband's health "took an unexpected and frightening turn for the worse".
She said the family's latest scare led to Derek, 54, being back in intensive care and fighting for his life, just over a year since he returned home from hospital where he spent 12 months after contracting coronavirus at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
"Thanks to the amazing NHS teams & his own extraordinary life force & spirit Derek - please god - is back on the right side of it now and Im so looking forward to seeing you all back on @gmb," Kate added. She also discussed her absence on GMB as she was comforted by Richard.
"I dramatically disappeared and haven’t been here for three weeks now," the Smooth Radio host explained. "We were on air and Derek had come out of hospital, he’s been going in and out of hospital for a while for looking at ways to tackle the damage caused by Covid back in 2020.
“But we haven’t really had any sort of medical eruptions, and then he just was really unwell. He’d come out of hospital the day before and (I) got a phone call from the person who was looking after him saying, ‘right, we’re really worried’, so I whizzed home, and it just sort of went ‘boom’ from there."
Derek was taken to hospital where Kate said they discovered he had "very severe sepsis, life-threatening sepsis." Sepsis occurs when the body overreacts to an infection and starts to damage its own tissues and organs which can be fatal and is notoriously hard to spot.
Kate continued: "So it was really dramatic; brilliant work by the A&E, absolutely extraordinary because when you’ve got sepsis, the big challenge is (to) find the source of infection quickly and get the right antibiotics and his blood pressure was so low…" She said that by a "process of eliminations and questions," and after a junior doctor asking her what she thought the cause may be, she suggested it could be a urine infection. Having ruled out her husband having Covid-19 again, she said: “I did wonder if it was a urine infection but weirdly, we couldn’t get anything for a sample and they just went ‘kidneys’?"
Kate added: "Unfortunately his kidneys were really badly infected, blocked. The challenge now is to save them, so that’s where we’ve been for the last three weeks. He’s still in hospital, not in intensive care, waiting for another procedure, looking really good. So fingers crossed on everything and particularly one kidney looking really good, just need to look at the other one, and so yeah, he’s still in (a) high dependency (unit)."
The Smooth Radio host hasn't given an update since but has since returned to her Saturday morning ITV show, Garraway's Good Stuff. But she has been absent from GMB again as she appears to be taking a trip away.
Posting a photo on Friday (August 12), Kate shared her amazement at a burning full moon in the night sky. She penned: "'that’s no moon … it’s a space station'. Am sure you are all seeing the #supermoon - sturgeon super moon I am told - strangely moving isn’t it & I am lucky enough to have a prime spot to watch it shining on the gorgeous waters of the north wales coast #nofilters #starwars."
In response,@howellsnk11 said: "Supermoon = manifestations and wishes. I wish you and your family all good positive things this year Kate." @donnapreston225 commented: "Wow stunning Kate." @barryrichardson376 shared: "What a picture Kate. Where are you. Wherever you are I hope you are all having a great time."
@palmwoods replied: "Wow beautiful @kategarraway ,love and prayers to you all." @lynettes70 added: "Stunning isn't it. Sending love @kategarraway."
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