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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Emily Martin

Kate Garraway admits her home life has been 'scaled up by 100' caring for husband

Ahead of the documentary Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek which airs tonight (February 22) ITV have released a first look at the film sure to evoke even further outpouring of love and sympathy for TV presenter Kate Garraway and her husband Derek Draper, whose health was destroyed by COVID 19.

In the clip, Derek is seen being transferred to his bed at home.

Afterwards the camera follows Kate to her laundry room where she's absolutely surrounded by bags of washing.

"This is Derek's laundry from today," she says gestured to two heavily bags of sheets.

Kate continues: "I just constantly shuffle through. It's just a symbol really of how everything is scaled up by 100."

Read more: ITV Kate Garraway Caring for Derek: What time is it on and how can I watch it?

The Good Morning Britain and Life Stories presenter Kate Garraway has been on a heart-wrenching journey since the pandemic began.

Her husband of 16 years, Derek Draper, caught Covid very early on in the pandemic and had his health destroyed as a result.

Appearing on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2021, Kate said that contracting Covid at the beginning of 2020 "devastated" Derek and that he has been affected "from the top of his head to the tip of his toe".

Despite returning home from hospital, Derek is still unable to fully communicate and has issues with mobility.

Caring for Derek is the follow up to the award-winning ITV film Finding Derek, shown in spring 2021, which charted how Derek Draper's family coped while he was critically ill in hospital with Covid-19.

The film documents Kate and the family from the first moments Derek arrived home in April 2021.

Derek's health was left devastated by Covid 19 (ITV)

Speaking to Pier's Morgan for Life Stories, a show which she has gone on to take over as presenter, Kate said:

"It does feel as though I walked through a fiery furnace or fell down a rabbit hole. The world went dark and still looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, really,".

"Derek is thought to be the worst affected living Covid patient in the United Kingdom," Piers pointed out. "He spent 13 months in hospital - the longest stay of anyone who survived the disease. What has Covid done to your husband?"

"It's devastated him," Said Kate. "From the top of his head to the tip of his toe. His digestive system, his liver, his kidneys, his heart, his nervous system. We're pretty sure that the inflammation did pass through the brain. He still can't communicate, he still has issues with mobility. Fundamentally, he's in a terrible state. Look, he's alive, Piers."

The new documentary will be shown on Tuesday, February 22 at 9pm on ITV.

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