Former political consultant Derek Draper, 54, became seriously ill with the coronavirus in March 2020, suffering permanent organ damage and requiring daily care. In an update on social media, Garraway, 55, explained her recent three-week absence from television and radio. “Derek’s health took an unexpected and terrifying turn for the worse that sent him back to intensive care and fighting for his life – again,” she wrote. But thanks to the “wonderful NHS teams and his own extraordinary strength and spirit of life, Derek – please, thank God – is back on the right side,” he added. Garraway said she was looking forward to getting back on the air and “hopefully celebrating” the Lionesses’ victory at Euro 2022. He also thanked people for “all your messages of support”, saying they “really mean the world to me and the whole family”. Garraway and Draper married in 2005 and have two children, Darcey and Billy. Last year, she won an award at the National Television Awards for the documentary Finding Derek, about her family’s traumatic experience of the pandemic. Earlier this year, Garraway said she was finding a “new way to be in love” with her husband as he recovered from his long bout with COVID-19. Read more: Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper is back in hospital as he suffers from long-term COVID Image: Draper and Garraway married in 2005. Photo: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock She told You Mail On Sunday magazine: “I’m not sure we’ve ever been in love, but I think a new road is emerging, a new way of falling in love. “She trusts me so much. She just says, ‘Whatever you think,’ which is great, but I tear up a lot about it. I’m thinking, ‘God, I hope I’m worthy of that trust.’ “But I have his back. That’s a relationship in itself, isn’t it?”
