Kate Garraway has revealed that her husband Derek Draper has opened his eyes for the first time as he begins a long road to recovery from coronavirus.
The 52-year-old was admitted to intensive care more than nine weeks ago after contracting COVID-19 and was so critically ill that he was put into an induced coma.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Garraway opened up on Draper's current condition, explaining that he is now free of the virus but it has wreaked havoc on his body, leaving him with a hole in his heart and damaged internal organs.
Doctors have attempted to bring him around in recent days by withdrawing the drugs that kept him in a coma and he has now started to show the first signs of consciousness.
"There is no reason to think that his hearing isn't working," Garraway told The Sun. "And he's opened his eyes, so the hope is that he moves through stages of consciousness and emerges.
"When the kids first asked if they could talk to Dad, I said 'yes' but warned them that he wouldn't be able to respond. I was nervous about it because he does look very sick.
"But they were amazing. Billy said, 'Hi Dad, I've been jumping off the swings in the garden . . . safely though', and just chatted away.
"Darcey's wanted a new chest of drawers for ages. At first she said she would wait for him to come home, but then she decided to build the flatpack herself, talking to him throughout on FaceTime. Hopefully that normality is filtering through for him."
Garraway and Draper, a former Labour spin doctor, have been married for 15 years.
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