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Kate Garraway reveals husband Derek Draper didn’t have a cough or temperature before coronavirus battle in hospital
KATE Garraway has revealed Derek Draper didn't have a cough or temperature before his coronavirus battle in hospital.
A new continuous cough and a high temperature are two of the most common coronavirus symptoms, but Kate, 53, said her husband had neither of those symptoms.
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Kate, 53, bravely opened up about Derek's health battle before he was rushed to hospital on 30th March - almost 10 weeks ago.
Appearing from her home in North London, Kate said: "Derek had a painful shoulder for a couple months, and had been taking medication and having scans.
"He was due to have a steroid injection, he felt unwell and was home tutoring the kids
"I got back on day and said "you don't you look right babe, I think it's the painkillers."
"I just had this weird feeling, and asked if he had a cough. He didn't, he said 'I think I've got weird sinusitis.'
"I rang the doctor, I said 'you don't look great, no real feeling that it's COVID, he had none of those symptoms."
She went on: "Around the 29/30 March, I then came home and said 'god you look ill.'
At this point Kate called her good friend, Good Morning Britain's Dr Hilary Jones, and asked for his advice.
Dr Hilary, 66, explained to viewers how he reacted to Kate's panicked call.
He said: "I was quite concerned just the way he was speaking but I asked him to do a simple test, this is not a diagnostic test.
"All I asked him to do was hold his breath and see how long he could hold it. And it was less than 10 seconds, and I told Kate, 'look it's time to call an ambulance'.
"He's 52, how long would you expect him to be able to hold his breath? Well you and I would be able to hold our breath for over a minute at least I would say, some a lot more some a bit less, but if you're fit and well certainly a minute.
"Under 10 seconds was significantlty abnormal.
"It's a sign of lung function, it's a very crude test but it's something you can do over the telephone."
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I'm A Celeb star Kate told Ben Shephard and Ranvir Singh that her husband is "covid free" but the virus has "wreaked havoc" on his body.
She told viewers: "(The doctors) have never seen this before. My doctors say to me he is the worst affected person they've had to treat.
"They're looking at damage and have some idea what that would mean if it was caused by something else, but this is an unknown virus ... They said he is one of five cases in the world like this.
"They call it an evil virus and it is, an evil virus."
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She added: "He's now covid free, the fight of the virus has been won.
"But it's wreaked extradorinary damage on his body and we don't know if he can recover from that. It is an absolute miracle that he's still here. I wish for some one, if I could just have one more."
The presenter revealed it is a "miracle" her husband is still alive and 68 days into Derek's battle he is now free of the virus.
However, it has wreaked havoc on his body and Derek is not out of the woods yet.
She added: "He's still with us. He has fought the most extraordinary battle. But you know, the fact that he is still here and is holding on. I'm just so grateful he's still here. And I've got the option of praying and hoping.
Emotional Ben Shephard struggles to speak as he fights back tears and says 'where there is life there is hope' for friend Kate Garraway's husband Derek
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"He is very very sick. And as time goes on, it's a virus, it's a little bit like a computer virus, there seems to be a flicker of hope and then other things emerge and he's fighting that. It's affected him from the top of his head to the tips of his toes."
Kate added to close friends Ben and Ranvir: "He's now covid free, the fight of the virus has been won.
"But it's wreaked extradorinary damage on his body and we don't know if he can recover from that.
"It is an absolute miracle that he's still here. I wish for another one, if I could just have one more."
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