KATE Garraway has revealed that paying for her late husband Derek Draper’s at-home care to keep him alive during his four-year Covid battle put her into debt.
The Good Morning Britain star, who stepped back from her telly duties to care for the former political advisor, became part of Derek’s full-time carer routine.
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Kate has revealed how she spent £16,000 a month on Derek’s careCredit: PA
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Kate cared for Derek at home with the help of a team of professionalsCredit: ITV
Derek, who passed away in January aged 56, required round-the-clock help from care workers, as well as therapists to help him with his movement and speech, as part of his recovery.
He became one of the most severely affected Covid-19 patients back in 2020 when, after being put into a coma for 98 days, was left suffering from a number of ongoing, life-threatening conditions.
But despite his lengthy list of needs, Kate, 56, and her family were denied any Government funding, meaning the TV presenter had to hire in help at a large cost to the family.
Speaking ahead of his passing in ITV special Derek’s Story, which airs tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV1, Kate admitted that caring for him pushed her finances to the brink of collapse.
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She tells the cameras: “Derek’s care costs more than my salary for my TV, and that’s before you’ve paid for a mortgage, before you’ve paid for any household bills, before you’ve paid for kids – so, we are at a crunch point.
“I am in debt and I can’t earn enough money to cover my debt because I am managing Derek’s care.
“I can’t even use the money I do have to support Derek’s recovery, because it’s going on the basics all the time.
“I’m not going to pretend by the way that I am poorly paid, I have an incredible job that I love that is well paid, but it’s not enough.
“Time and time again, the system keeps telling us that Derek isn’t sick enough, and doesn’t have enough of a health need to have funded care. I’ve appealed, but that still hasn’t been processed years later.
“Derek’s care, the basic needs and not including any therapy which I pay for on top, is nearly £4,000 a week – and how can anyone afford £16,000 a month?
Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper speaks on camera during his final days in heartbreaking ITV documentary
“Please god, there could be another 40 years of this – but we’re entirely reliant on extraordinary carers in a system with is complicated, underfunded and trying to match unmeetable needs.
“Coming home from hospital feels like falling off a cliff, and if this is what it’s like for me, what on earth is it like for everybody else?”
Kate meets with one of Derek’s former colleague, Liz, in another emotional scene, where she wheels Derek out in a wheelchair to be part of the conversation.
The presenter is told that one in five women between the ages of 55 and 60 will become a carer, and that there are over two million people caring for loved ones at home.
Kate says: “Something has to be done or the whole service, everything, is going to break.
“I want Derek to need less to care, I don’t want to argue for more, but to get to that point we need support – and no political party has sorted this.
“There’s currently no national budget for care and the amount spent is a postcode lottery on whether you get any support at all.
“It’s hard to think about who Derek was before, it was hard to understand his beliefs that were so strong about a fairer society. If you’re the person that has been arguing for change and a better system and then find yourself victim to the system that didn’t change, it must be very hard mentally.”
Derek, who became known as the nation’s longest-suffering Covid patient, died in January after a four-year ordeal.
His health battle was the subject of two previous award-winning films, Finding Derek and Caring for Derek.
But Kate, mum to their two children Darcey, 18, and Billy, 14, was keen to allow Derek to use his own voice in the new documentary, and advocate for better support for carers.
She said of the film: “We wanted to highlight how he and our family are just one of millions who, every day, have to deal with the challenges of severe disability or life-threatening illness.
“And we wanted to celebrate the incredible work of carers, both professional and those who do it out of love.”
Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story airs Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX and STV.
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Derek passed away in JanuaryCredit: ITV
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Derek spent four years battling long CovidCredit: Rex
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