Derek Draper has passed away - Kate Garraway's husband

[Zingy123]

How sad he wasn't very old.

I agree with this. When my husband died after a ravaging battle with leukaemia I saw a grief counsellor and something she asked stuck with me-

She said "when did you lose your husband"

And I said "when did I start to lose him-which was the minute he was diagnosed and became a patient and very, very ill very quickly-or when did I completely lose him?"

An illness like this strips away every last bit of the person they once were and without realising it you are always grieving what was and what was meant to be the whole time.
So when it finally happens the mourning has been going on for a long, long time.

Excellent point, people are still confusing his issue (which was severe organ damage from covid) with long covid. They are two different things.

His condition showed how devastating the original covid infection was to some people, and we still don't have the science (or whether anyone is actually researching) why the virus was a lot worse in some than others, what makes someone more at risk.

Heavens MerryMarigold I really feel for your friend and her family. That sounds appalling. She should be receiving far more support.

I’ve just seen that Derek Draper has died. He was originally in hospital with Covid the same time as my dear mum. My mum died in early summer 2020 of Covid consequences. She has been gone four years this year. Poor Derek and his family have endured so much in that time, at least he is at peace now and naturally for his family there will be relief in that. I remember feeling grief and relief when my mum died, relief that her suffering was over and to an extent our suffering, as we had to watch her suffer, was also over.

Such sad news. RIP.

My DM is also very ill and requires full time nursing care, paid for from her savings at a cost of £5,500 per month.

She was a fit, active, motorway driving, yoga enjoying 68 year old. Smart, organised, busy.

Vaccinated as expected.
Caught COVID.
Within days diagnosed with COVID induced paranoia. Life for her is horrific.

She doesn't know who anyone is. She is in a series of live scary dreams - circus tigers attacking her, CIA agents (us) videoing her through our glasses, hosting imaginary parties for ‘guests’ that have no English, incontinent, eating little, immobile, etc etc.

Thinking of all of those who are suffering or who have family who are.

Oh how sad. She has been incredibly strong through it all and seems such a lovely warm person. My heart goes out to her & their children. I was always rooting for him to recover. Rest in peace Derek x

Honestly my most fervent hope is that this brings some sort of peace for Kate and her family. Losing DH was the worst thing that ever happened to me – but seeing him so desperately ill in the ICU, and the sheer worry for him when he came home so vulnerable and with such a high chance of dying at any time – was harder in many ways. I can't imagine the agony of going through that for so long. I admire Kate hugely.

I’m so sorry for your loss. I used to be a Intensive Care nurse and part of why I left was that we gave too much false hope and caused the patients and their families prolonged suffering by continuing treatment when we knew that they would die. I’ve written a plan for my family as I wouldn’t want more than four weeks on ventilation. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.

It's so sad and tragic.

RIP Derek. I hope you are finally at peace now.

All sympathies and with his family and friends especially Kate and the children, for whom I have much admiration as they have been so strong and dignified. How awful for them.

I was so sad to see this news. That family have had so much to bear since March 2020 and they have rallied and coped admirably. I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for all four of them. Just so sad that he couldn’t get better no matter how much he wanted to and how hard they tried.

so sad id rather have gone early than suffer like that

poor kate and the kids

Very sad, she's worked so hard to bring him back. I hope she and her kids will be given time to come to terms with this and not hassled by media. Hopefully, they'll look after one of their own.

It makes me think about all the other unheard long covid, or covid damaged people out there trying to get on with their own damaged lives and what support they are getting.

This and only this. The rest are just posturing. Good I didn't stumble on the usual MN echo chamber.

So sad for Kate and his DC who showed him so much love, but now he can be at peace.

Almost 4.

I totally agree, not sure I've ever heard such an insensitive 'tribute' before, they'd have been better off saying nothing at all. Derek Draper wasn't someone I was aware of until his battle with covid was highlighted in the media. No idea why they felt the need to drag up his (alleged?) past indiscretions. Had he upset the BBC in the past?

How very sad for Katie and her children. I saw in the documentary how COVID effected him and his family on a daily basis. It was hard for his kids not to have a dad that could play with them and bring them place's like he did previously.
Meanwhile Katie was trying hard to deal with this situation and looking after 2 kids.
As for someone here who said she get another book out of it - what a nasty comment.
She was using the money she made from the book to keep the bills paid.

I hope now that Katie, his children and relatives on both sides of the family can grieve in peace. May Derek rip after putting up a brave fight.

Pedant's Corner is that way - - - >

actually, it's not even being a pedant. It's simply tedious.

My thoughts to his family
I’ll never forget in her first documentary Kate saved every one of his subscriptions newspaper, so he could read them later and then in her 2nd documentary she had threw them all away, realising the same man who loved those newspapers was never coming back home even though he was there physically

Oh bore off, it’s a commonly used phrase, absolutely nothing wrong with it.

It’s been a long hard road for the family, I hope they get the time and space they need to start to move on.

@TheShellBeach

I often use the term "passed away"

Because my dad passed away, slowly, painfully, and that was for a much shorter period that Derek Draper suffered.

My friends who died in a terror attack, I do say died, because while I can't know for sure, from medical assessments they did not suffer for more than a few minutes.

I think it's inconsiderate to question the terminology people use.

I would much prefer that dad had died than "passed away" tortuously.

This seems a particularly bad moment to question people's choice of words, especially when many on this thread are remembering the grim "passing" of loved ones.

I didn't feel the need to comment on this thread, but that comment pissed me off. You use your language and I'll use mine.

I think it's more advertising how unpleasant you can get away with being online.

Exactly, its a peraonal choice.

I said 'died" until a parent did, and then 'passed away' was less upsetting.

So sorry to hear this awful few years for them. Very sad