KATE Garraway has said she is “desperately trying to hold on” to her husband Derek as he continues to fight the effects of Covid.

The 53-year-old appeared on The One Show today ahead of her documentary about Derek airing next week and opened up about his current state.

Derek was taken to hospital battling coronavirus a year ago, and she has now made a film about his struggle, as well as a book to offer hope to others in the same position.

She told Alex Jones and Michael Ball that she felt like a “life boat” and he was “bobbing along” beneath her in an emotional analogy.

"Derek is an extreme case. What he had is what is called a prolonged disorder of consciousness which means that there is some reaction," she explained.

"It is not like the coma we see in movies where people are lying in a vegetative state. He can open his eyes and before Christmas there was a lot of progress with words and communication and things.

"But what I feel like is that I am on a lifeboat somehow and he is coming up and down. Sorry, this seems very figurative but that is how it feels.

"You are on this precipice trying to hold on to him and there are moments when he bubbles up and you have some contact, predominantly at the moment on FaceTime because of the Covid restrictions."

She went on to describe the fact she was living in a “strange world” where she was existing “minute by minute” when Derek first fell ill.

But she wanted to highlight the “middle ground” of the Covid, saying that while the deaths were “horrific”, living life in limbo was also heart-breaking.

She said: “There is a whole group of people trapped in the middle ground where the damage is so great they aren’t sure if they can get their life back.

“It has affected people on a lot of levels. It’s greater than just live or dies.”

The GMB presenter went on to say how hard Derek must find it as he treated his brain like “his best friend”.

She said: "It feels like you are having to fill him with so much positivity because he is going to sink down. What you will see in the documentary is some of the better moments even though they are heartbreaking, I am afraid, where he comes up.

"Then you see what must be agony for him because he is somebody who, both in his time before I knew him when he was in politics and also since in all the work he has done in mental health, because that is his thing now, his brain has always been his best friend."

Her appearance comes after a harrowing new trailer for her show aired, showing her talking to her seriously ill partner on an ipad.

The clip also sees Kate screaming: "Derek, I miss you" while sorting through things at home.

While he has seen off the disease, it has left his body battered and Kate fears he may never be the same person again.

Today ITV released new footage from the film, which airs next week, showing Kate, 53, sorting through things at home.

Picking up a frame from a pile of items piled up by a door, she screams: "Derek, I miss you!"

The film also reveals the first footage of Derek, 53, seen since he was rushed to hospital in March 2020.

As he is shown in his intensive care bed in the trailer, Kate says: "Derek is the sickest person the team of doctors have treated that has lived.

"Is he going to be able to come back? Or will he be alive but no longer the person he was?"

Becoming overwhelmed with sadness, she adds: "You shouldn't have to think like that."

After contracting the virus more than a year ago, Derek faced an uphill battle to survive.

Coronavirus ravaged his body, his kidneys failed, he has liver and pancreas damage and his heart has stopped more than once.

Countless infections have left holes in his lungs and the battle has seen him lose eight stone.

However Kate said that doctors still can’t tell her whether Derek will recover – and they have warned her he may remain “locked in” for good.

Susanna Reid today called her co-star an "inspiration" as they hosted Good Morning Britain together.

Speaking about the documentary Kate said: "I think it is a moment for everyone as we release it has been a year that we have all been living with it.

"I began making the documentary in August rather hoping that Derek and I would be chatting with you and more recovery would have been possible but that hasn't been the case."

Susanna, 50, told her friend: "You're our inspiration, you know that."

Kate Garraway: Finding Derek airs at 9pm on Tuesday on ITV

Source: Read Full Article