Kate Garraway brought viewers to tears on Tuesday night as she shared the final documentary which followed her late husband Derek Draper’s final year battling the lasting effects of Covid.
As Kate reflected on her husband’s difficult condition in Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story she made the heartbreaking admission that it felt as though ‘his brain is now his enemy’ as she attempted to articulate his condition.
The mother-of-two also made sure to shed light on the crippling care system in the UK as she invited politician Liz Kendall, and Derek’s former colleague, over for coffee with her and Derek.
Delighted to see him, Liz got up to hug Derek – who appeared happy to see her as he muttered that he remembered her from his work as a political lobbyist.
However, after a short conversation about failing social care, Kate noticed Derek has drifted and decided he needed to rest.
Kate Garraway’s, 56, heartbreaking words as she detailed the devastating deterioration of her late husband Derek Draper in her final documentary on Tuesday night
As Kate reflected on her husband’s difficult condition she made the heartbreaking admission that it feels as though ‘his brain is now his enemy’ as she attempted to articulate his condition
Commenting on the sharp contrast from Derek pre-Covid to the tragic effects on his entire body post-Covid, she explained: ‘I feel like the tragedy for me is that his brain was his best friend, and now it is like his brain is his enemy as the inflammation is everywhere.’
During the programme a glimpse was also given into Derek’s younger days as he campaigned for ‘social justice and equality’.
A clip was shown of a 21-year-old Derek at a protest, where he was telling cameras that the police should be trusted to do their job.
‘It’s all been caused by a few people who are hanging around here and don’t realise that the police are much stronger than we can ever be and that the police will clear this road,’ he said.
It then flashed forward to Derek in October 2023, where he was asked: ‘Did you enjoy being in politics?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered.
Another clip of Derek in his younger years showed him saying: ‘The hard political thinking behind this project is, to get Labour elected.’
He was then seen leaving 10 Downing Street, before another clip showed him backing Gordon Brown.
‘People are so willing to beat Gordon Brown over the head at the moment, that they’re not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he’s doing something quite ordinary and decent,’ Derek said.
Commenting on the sharp contrast from Derek pre-Covid to the tragic effects on his entire body post-Covid, she explained: ‘I feel like the tragedy for me is that his brain was his best friend, and now it is like his brain is his enemy as the inflammation is everywhere’
Kate invited politician Liz Kendall, and Derek’s former colleague, over for coffee with her and Derek, however after a short time he had to go and rest
Delighted to see him, Liz got up to hug Derek – who appeared happy to see her as he smiles
Another clip of Derek in his younger years showed him saying: ‘The hard political thinking behind this project is, to get Labour elected’
In another catch up to 2023, Derek was asked while in bed what he believed in during his campaigning days. He said: ‘Equality. Social justice.’
‘Have these things always meant a lot to you,’ he was asked, before he replied: ‘Yes.’
Speaking on The One Show on Tuesday, prior to the documentary’s release, Kate said: ‘I always felt for him as somebody who had fought so hard to make things better during his time as a politician and then as a psychologist.
‘It must have been so hard to see the thing that hadn’t changed, the thing that you were then inflicted by. It’s just terrible’.
The former political lobbyist is one of the worst affected cases of Covid in the UK, and as the programme began, Derek confessed he wanted to make this final documentary in order to ‘be heard’.
And as the documentary began, viewers saw Derek speak for the first time since his battle with the virus, which attacked every organ in his body.
In heartbreaking scenes viewers saw Derek’s health somewhat improving before he suffered a cardiac arrest last December which led to his passing in January.
