Kate Garraway reveals ‘moments of reaction’ since husband’s return home

Kate Garraway has revealed her husband’s “moments of reaction” since returning home from hospital.

Derek Draper, 53, was in hospital for a year after being admitted with coronavirus symptoms and being placed in a coma.

Garraway said of the former political adviser’s return to the family this month: “It’s been wonderful having Derek home and there are lots of little positives.

“There are little moments of reaction and he actually said something the other day,” she explained on Good Morning Britain.

“I walked in the other morning… and he said, ‘New dress?’, which was just amazing.

“And it was, actually!

“So I thought it was amazing on so many levels because he recognised it (and) he realised and remembered that I need a lot of flattery, so there was some emotional connection there!

“It was just a little moment and then, of course, there was nothing.”

She told her co-hosts it was unclear whether the “positives” were because being at home was “genuinely helping his cognition” or “because I’m there to see the little things”.

Mr Draper has been taken off all machines and breathing apparatus but receives care at home, which Garraway adapted in his absence to make it more accessible.

Last month ITV broadcast Finding Derek, a documentary exploring his illness and its effect on their two children.

One scene saw Garraway recall being told by Mr Draper’s doctors that he was the most seriously ill person they had seen who remained alive.