It’s been a year-long battle.
Kate Garraway has revealed all about the extreme symptoms her husband Derek suffers from as he continues to battle long Covid.
After spending months in hospital and now home again, Kate opened up about her husband’s tiredness as an effect of covid.
Derek was in hospital for over a year after he tested positive for Covid-19, which then damaged his lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.
Still needing care despite being home again, the Good Morning Britain presenter revealed that Derek spends the majority of the day sleeping as he now suffers from extreme fatigue.
Opening up on the show today, Kate warned again of the effects of Covid, detailing her husband’s life-changing illness and telling viewers it is “not the flu.”
“We’re in a situation where most people are likely to catch Covid because we can’t stop people catching it. It’s the vaccinations that stop it being more damaging,” Kate said.
“People who have had it mildly are arguing it’s the same as flu, and flu can be devastating to people, but this is different because flu doesn’t give you this degree of organ damage. Even when you look at some of the symptoms that some of the people who have been double vaccinated suffer from, it’s fatigue.
“I used to think it was being exhausted by getting up in the morning. The fatigue Derek has, I know he’s an extreme case, but Derek is sleeping 20 out of 24 hours a day. He has 10 minute windows. It’s not just feeling a bit tired, He goes white, pale, and it’s like everything shuts down.
“You don’t want that kind of fatigue, even ruling out all the other things that people are suffering with, with long Covid.”
Kate also spoke about vaccines, encouraging viewers to get theirs saying: “The idea that you can prevent that and just have a bad week in bed, is life-changing, isn’t it?”
Kate and Derek’s home has been renovated to comply with his needs as he returned home, turning the former political lobbyist’s office into a downstairs bedroom for him and the bathroom into a wetroom.
Derek was diagnosed with Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic and was in critical condition with the virus, staying there for a year following his illness.
