Derek Draper has died (Kate Garraways husband)

[balou85]

Just so unbelievably sad. 😢

So sad. I agree they seemed happy, it's bloody unfair.

whether you're expecting it or not it's still a shock & devastating when it actually happens. He looked so well a few months ago that I was beginning to think he'd make it, albeit with a different life than pre Covid.

Things we know: he had a bad case of covid , a long stint in icu from it and has not been well since. Unbiased approach- covid killed him. Biased approach: covid might have had him on deaths door with artificial breathing for months and very poorly ever since then but let’s just make sure it couldn’t have been the vaccines instead. Thats about as rational as maybe it wasn’t covid and he was rock climbing and fell and cracked his head.

I'm so sad, they have been through so much and are such a lovely couple very much in love, with a young family xxxx

I would actually watch This Morning if she was on it. She's intelligent and relatable.

I listened to Kate’s latest book a few weeks ago. I was struck by how much she adored him and what an amazing advocate she was for him.

But I was also struck by how utterly bleak it was. Almost 4 years of devastating lows with very few glimmers of hope or improvements. When she was told a decent recovery for him would be the ability to hold a hairbrush, I could only imagine the horror of what that meant for her hopes for his and their future.

There was never going to be a happy ending. I hope Kate and her kids are getting lots of support.

I felt so sad when I heard the news this morning, I saw it online a few mins before Alison and Dermot announced it, Dermot was visibly very upset. I was actually surprised how upset it made me feel, I guess partly because I have followed Kate's throughout this time and seen the struggle they have all been through, because my DH is the same age and also because I was struck by what a fantastic couple they seemed to be when she did I'm a Celebrity.

I knew he contracted covid early on but hadn't remembered it was as early as March 2020, just so devastating for them all, esp as a few months later there was probably a lot more knowledge about it all.

It’s so sad as it could have literally happened to any of us that caught Covid. He was just so unlucky to have been badly affected by the virus, when most weren’t. Poor Kate and the children. Heart broken for them.

So sad for Kate and her dc they have been through so much over the years since he caught covid

in defence to the poster who asked had he been vaccinated if you haven’t followed the story and realised he caught covid early on before vaccines had been rolled out you wouldn’t know especially as Derek recently had heart problems which I believe through personal experiences is being linked to the vaccines. Obviously not the case for Derek it was covid that did so much damage to his body

Sad but a relief. Life is cruel.

It matters because if he had been vaccinated he would not have developed such severe COVID disease and would most likely be happy and health today. And it matters today so that people continue to understand that vaccination saves lives
more than any other public health intervention

How could he have been vaccinated by a vacinne that didn't exist when he caught COVID?

Having cared for a family member for 22 years who needed 24/7 support I thank Kate for shining a light into the hidden lives of the very severely disabled and their carers.
My condolences to the family

You aren’t unbiased , no human is.

If someone in the public eye dies who is well known to have had COVID very badly indeed and your first response is to ask if he'd been vaccinated, then you're about as unbiased as Fiona Bruce on Question Time.
I'm amazed you didn't call it the 'clot shot'.

I never heard of either of them before.
They are (were) both about my age so a sobering reminder of value of good health.

Very sad but I am tired of the poor Kate she's had it sooooo hard narrative. She is in a career where there is flexibility it's very well paid and will be unlikely to suffer the hardships regular carers do. Her determination to court media attention for every part of his struggle has been quite frankly awful to see

How can you be vaccinated before there is a vaccine available 🤡

This is very unfair.

Of course it's all relative but she owes a fortune following the winding up of his business (something like £500,000 I think), she had no income when she wasn't working.

The nature of her work is she's obviously well-paid when she does work but has to be doing a fairly tough gig in the public eye to earn it.

I mean, not quite. He was very unfortunate that he was so severely affected but he did have other factors - overweight, not particularly healthy, that contributed to how seriously it affected him

(And of course not everyone with such factors were as seriously affected, that was unfortunate and very bad luck).

I didn't hear this but have read the articles & knew about his career before all this too. He was a public figure & they were reporting on his wider life, not just the tragic illness he experienced.

He didn't sound like the nicest of individuals, and certainly lacked integrity with regard to certain of his decisions in his political advisor career. Of course, that can be true while it's also true that he can be a loving husband and father.

@EarringsandLipstick it's not unfair at all.
It's hard for carers it was before she became one and will be after. People only start shouting about how hard it is being a carer when it affects them. It was always about how hard it was for her and never about her poor husband. I know more than most how hard it is but Kate was always concerned about Kate not poor Derek who was always wheeled out for air time. The footage of her 'saying goodbye' to him when he was first so poorly with covid was disgracefully invasive and degrading he had literally no dignity or privacy thanks to her

I haven't seen all of her documentaries or videos she made so perhaps you have a point.

I will say that the interviews I heard with her, she was very focused on Derek, nearly to the point of not mentioning herself. It does seem clear she she loved him.

I do appreciate that for many carers without a public profile, it could seem unfair that she had this voice that they may not have.

She's free now. Being a carer is the most soul destroying, exhausting, thankless, poverty-stricken, isolating and miserable way to spend your life.

You only have to look at threads on here to see how society views us and our severely disabled carees.

When I heard the radio news, I said "oh" out loud. I know neither of them, but Covid dealt them such a cruel card.

I wish Kate and her children peace in their grief.