CELEB NEWS & GOSSIP
Star feared she was having a heart attack after being ‘temporarily paralysed’
Kate Garraway has opened up about the toll that her husband Derek Draper’s health battle has taken on her. The GMB presenter, 56, revealed how she was rushed to hospital last November with “excruciating” chest pains, as he recovered from sepsis. “Temporarily paralysed”, she was unable to move to turn off her alarm and feared that she was having a heart attack brought on by the strain of caring for Derek.
“There was a searing pain in my chest – as though someone had punched their fist through my breastbone, snatched hold of my heart and squeezed. The pain was sharp and excruciating,” she wrote in her new book, The Strength Of Love. “Then I realised that it wasn’t a sudden onset of pain. It had been there all the time. My temporary paralysis had distracted me.” She continued, “Then came the thought, ‘Oh God, was I having a heart attack?’ But why was my body reacting like this? Could I be so desperate to help Derek that I’d started having sympathy pains?”
Kate went to A&E, where she collapsed. After an ECG test, heart attack-related proteins were found in her blood, but doctors believe it may be stress-related angina. She went back to have tests 12 hours later, but was deemed not strong enough to have them. After being diagnosed with COVID in March 2020, Derek, 56, has been slowly recovering from issues leading from the virus, which has left lasting damage to his body and organs.
She revealed that the former political adviser has developed “a weird choking” condition. Unable to breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe in oxygen means it “is slightly poisoning his body all the time” and led to a terrifying moment. “For absolutely no reason he just went blue,” she said, adding that it was a “really near miss”.
The star laid bare the realities of her new life, being the primary carer for her beloved husband. She described looking after Derek as a “privilege”, despite only s
