KATE Garraway has opened up on the frightening moment her husband Derek Draper told her he "was gone".
The Good Morning Britain star, 55, says he was just minutes from death after being struck down with sepsis last summer.
Speaking to The Sun about their terrifying ordeal, which saw Derek once again battling for his life in intensive care, Kate described it as "gut-wrenching".
She said: “His sepsis was gut-wrenching for all of us because it had gone undiagnosed until the point where it was about to take his life away again.
“At one point Derek said to me, ‘This is it, this time. I am gone.’ It was just terrifying."
Spectacular New Year fireworks light up London sky as huge crowds celebrate across UK for first time in three years
Kate has been at her husband's side since he was rushed to hospital with Covid at the height of the pandemic in March 2020.
He was placed on a ventilator and put in an induced coma — with Kate and the couple’s two kids Darcey, 16, and Billy, 13, unable to visit him due to strict Covid rules.
Some 13 months later, he was finally allowed home.
Having been hospitalised for so long, his body was ravaged with various crippling conditions and Derek remains confined to a bed and wheelchair. He is still unable to walk.
Last July, Derek was diagnosed with a kidney infection that developed dangerous complications.
The former political lobbyist, 55, contracted sepsis and medics battled to save his life as he lay in intensive care for three weeks.
Thankfully, despite fears that he could lose a kidney, he pulled through and was later moved to the hospital's High Dependancy Unit before eventually being allowed home.
Kate has spoken to The Sun about the debilitating financial costs of caring for Derek.
The popular presenter is issuing a call to arms for Sun readers, those who have experienced first-hand the overworked care and health system in the UK.
