Kate Garraway heartbreakingly admitted she ‘tortured’ herself by listening to her husband Derek Draper’s voicemail to hear his ‘old voice.’
The Good Morning Britain host announced the death of her husband of 18 years at the age of 56 on Instagram on Friday morning, almost four years after he first fell seriously ill with Covid.
Derek had been plagued with health woes after contracting Covid in 2020 and suffered a cardiac arrest in early December. MailOnline understands he passed away last Wednesday night.
Kate revealed she would call the political lobbyist’s phone just to hear his voice when he was in an induced coma.
Writing in her 2023 memoir, The Strength of Love, she explained: ‘I knew that what I was about to do would be like torturing myself but I sensed this was the moment that I needed to push myself to the limit.’
Kate Garraway, 56, heartbreakingly admitted she ‘tortured’ herself by listening to her husband Derek Draper’s voicemail to hear his ‘old voice’
The Good Morning Britain host announced the death of her husband of 18 years at the age of 56 on Instagram on Friday morning, almost four years after he first fell ill with Covid
She continued: ‘I called Derek’s old mobile number and heard his “old voice” on the answerphone – so powerful, so in control, the soft Lancashire accent so familiar and now so distant from the whispered words we heard from Derek every day.
‘I was floored, but knew I had to… go deeper, so I searched his last texts to me and his emails going further back than the final heartbreaking ones he’d sent me from the hospital, before he was put into the coma.
‘Three years on, reading these day-to-day conversations brought me to tears. I felt full of regret that I hadn’t treasured this connection… more.’
Kate spent Christmas Day in hospital with her husband Derek Draper as he was ‘too unwell’ to go home – after suffering a cardiac arrest last year.
The Mirror reported Kate, Derek and their two children Darcey, 17, and Billy, 14, spent their final Christmas as a family together beside his hospital bed.
A source said: ‘Unfortunately Derek was too unwell for doctors to allow him home for Christmas. But the last thing Kate wanted was for him to be alone during the holidays.
‘So they brought Christmas to him, food, presents and all. The whole family was there with him and they had the best day they could.’
Kate made a desperate 12-hour flight home from Mexico with husband Derek Draper, where he had been undergoing specialist treatment, after he suffered a cardiac arrest last month.
Kate revealed she would call the political lobbyist’s phone just to hear his voice when he was in an induced coma (pictured in February 2022)
According to reports Kate and Derek ventured to Mexico ‘without fanfare’ in November for treatment which went ‘incredibly well’ only for him to suffer a cardiac arrest ahead of their return home in time for Christmas (pictured together in 2007)
Kate, Derek and their two children Darcey, 17, and Billy, 14, spent their final Christmas as a family together beside his hospital bed (pictured 2019)
The Sun reports Kate and Derek ventured to Mexico ‘without fanfare’ in November for treatment which went ‘incredibly well’ only for him to suffer a cardiac arrest ahead of their return home in time for Christmas.
Ex-lobbyist Derek was stabilised and put in an air ambulance for the 12-hour flight, with his beloved wife by his side.
With a source telling the publication: ‘The treatment went incredibly well, and his doctor and all the consultants were hugely optimistic about his long-term progress, and future’.
‘Unfortunately as Kate excitedly returned to bring Derek home he suffered a cardiac arrest’.
The broadcaster was by Derek’s side in intensive care in Mexico and worked with UK doctors who oversaw his return via a specialist plane.
Adding: ‘Unfortunately, despite the doctors in Mexico getting his heart beating stably again, Covid damage meant further complications ultimately affected his chance of recovery.’
Kate frequently kept fans updated on his health struggles and his difficult journey during his Covid battle, previously sharing his heartbreaking last request before he was hospitalised.
While Derek was waiting for an ambulance before being taken to hospital in March 2020, he asked his two beloved children to ‘look after’ Kate.
Kate shared that she was by her husband’s side ‘holding his hand’ during his final hours as she penned an emotional tribute alongside a smiling picture of Derek
He told them: ‘You’re the best children anybody could ever have asked for. Look after Mum, be good for her”,’ Kate previously shared while discussing his Covid battle in June 2020.
Derek was in and out of hospital after he fell seriously ill with coronavirus at the very start of the pandemic in March 2020, and was left with lasting damage to his organs.
Doctors put him in a medically induced coma and he became the longest-suffering coronavirus patient in the UK after spending 13 months in hospital, away from Kate and their two children.
However, he was readmitted several times with numerous health issues, including kidney failure, brain inflammation and liver damage.