Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper says heartbreaking first word after 214-day coronavirus battle
Kate Garraway has revealed that her husband Derek Draper has spoken his first word since his coronavirus battle began 214 days ago
Video Loading
Click to play
Tap to play
The video will start in8Cancel
Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper has said his heartbreaking first word 214 days after his battle with coronavirus begun.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was watching from home over FaceTime as doctors tended to Derek in hospital and he mouthed the word "pain".
It was the first word Derek, 53, has uttered since March.
Kate told The Sun: "It’s a case of trying to balance belief, hope, optimism with reality.
"But we have had a breakthrough which was both amazing yet heartbreaking.
"It happened when the nurses were moving Derek, as part of his treatment, to trigger the sensation of gravity because he's been horizontal for so long."
Derek's tracheotomy tube has been removed and he is now able to breathe without a ventilator, but sadly, it seems Derek is still in a lot of pain.
Doctors were moving his body around to prevent him from seizing up when he said the word.
Kate said that right from the beginning of his battle against Covid-19, doctors and nurses have spoken to Derek in a respectful way while caring for him, even when he was unable to open his eyes.
And she said that this time around, they had been doing the same thing, not really expecting a response, but then he suddenly mouthed the word "pain".
They were hoping all along that they could trigger a response.
Kate, 53, said that while it's "heartwrenching" that "pain" was Derek's first word, the fact that he communicated is a "huge breakthrough".
The presenter, who share kids Darcey, 14, and Billy, 11, with Derek, said she was in tears when it happened, and that the hospital staff who've been caring him were overcome with emotion too.
She added: "It breaks my heart that there may have been times that he’s been in terrible pain and wasn’t able to communicate it."
Kate said Derek has now said the word "pain" twice.
While she didn't hear the first time - being told over the phone by doctors - she was watching on FaceTime the second time.
She said it's "hard" but "amazing" because she knows the significance this could hold for her husband's recovery.
Kate says she can see in her husband's eyes that he's "there" and that they just have to "hold on".
Despite this improvement, there i still no long-term prognosis for Derek.
Doctors don't know for sure if he will fully recover after coronavirus affected his internal organs, including his lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.
Derek has also lost a staggering amount of eight and remains in a form of coma called a PDOC, which stands for Prolonged Disorder of Consiousness.
The Mirror recently revealed that Kate has begun work on an emotional documentary about coronavirus, in which she'll talk about Derek and the effect the pandemic has had on the nation as a whole.
Kate is using her own unique viewpoint to front an ITV documentary where she will speak to a wide variety of people who have been affected by the pandemic.
A source close to Kate said: "Kate has been seen on GMB regularly talking about Derek and his ongoing battle against coronavirus and now she has decided to use her viewpoint to make a documentary too where she speak to lots of others who have been affected and the stories behind the headlines and the people involved.
"As well as looking at what she had gone through the programme will also speak to survivors of the disease, people on the frontline and economic experts who will give insight about the impact of coronavirus.
"The idea is to look at the virus and its impact in a number of different ways to show how it has affected so many people around the country.
MirrorCeleb