SELFLESS PLEA
Kate Garraway reveals husband Derek Draper’s heartbreaking final wish for her and the kids a year after his tragic death
She revealed she's been saddled with an 'unpayable debt' and is pushing for social care reform
KATE Garraway has revealed late husband Derek Draper's final wish for her and their two children, Billy and Darcey.
Former political advisor Derek tragically died last January, at the age of 56, after a long battle with life-altering Covid complications.
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Brave Kate, 57, has forged on with her life to ensure she gives Billy and Darcey as much stability as possible, and she's buoyed by Derek's plea that they all squeeze the most joy out of life.
In a new interview with magazine, the Good Morning Britain presenter said: "I can begin to see a new positivity for the three of us – I am hoping. Where we don't look back and remember: ‘This time last year we were doing this or that with Dad…' but focus on the future.
"Derek would want me to be grabbing life, because you learn how fast, and how easily, it can be snatched away. I know he'd be saying: ‘You've got to get out and live, because I can't.'"
Last month Kate admitted she was struggling to shift "a bit of gloom" around the one-year anniversary of Derek's death.
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She shared a snap of the frost covered garden at her home on Instagram and wrote: "Boy it’s cold out there - very beautiful though.
"Trying to shift a bit of gloom by cracking on today with lots of jobs have been putting off and soaking up the beauty of nature while I do it!"
Dad-of-two Derek was left fighting for his life in hospital after suffering a heart attack in December 2023.
At the time, he was already one of the UK's longest-suffering Covid patients, having been diagnosed in March 2020.
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Kate paid a touching tribute to her late spouse at his funeral last February and, just days later, made her "brave" GMB return.
The Smooth Radio host has always been candid on the financial toll Derek's care has taken on her family.
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During Derek's final months, Kate said she struggled to keep her "head above water" after racking up huge debts paying for his care.
She took to withdrawing cash from her pension early to try to stem the crippling cost of the bills.
On a previous GMB episode, she also admitted she had looked into the same finance technique to release funds from Derek's pension when he was still alive, in order to keep up with the fees.
At the start of this year, she laid bare her monetary situation when Health Minister Wes Streeting was on GMB.
The anchor - whose care bill for her late spouse amounted to £800K - said: "I'm thinking about Derek. It happens to be the one year anniversary of his death today.
"A day that is only relevant to me."
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Kate then explained how two separate appeals for funding to pay for Derek's care costs kept getting pushed back.
She also told of how her family had "not heard" the outcome when he went into Intensive Care prior to his death.
Kate continued: "In the meantime I am lucky, I've got an incredible job which pays well, but I was having to fund the situation.
"Now I've got excessive, unpayable debt because of it.
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"And if I am in that position, what else are people going to be? People can't afford four more years of this."
Kate's stark point came as Labour's plans for the long-term funding and reform of social care in England may now not be delivered until 2028.
GMB's Kate Garraway and social care reform
KATE Garraway locked horns with Health Minister Wes Streeting in a debate over social care reform on GMB. Yet what is it? And when will it happen?
Kate Garraway - who tragically lost husband Derek Draper in January 2024 - has become a staunch advocate for social care reform and the plight of unpaid carers.
Yet as Health Secretary Wes Streeting appeared on ITV daytime show GMB on January 3, 2025 - the one-year anniversary of the death of her spouse - it was revealed the crucial plans may not be delivered until 2028.
It came after ministers announced the first steps to creating a National Care Service.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting will today vow to “modernise” the industry.
He is set to launch an independent commission — to be chaired by Baroness Louise Casey — on how to set up the National Care Service.
But she will not report back until next year on issues facing social care.
A second phase — with recommendations for the longer term — is not expected until 2028.
Experts have now urged the government to accelerate the process.
Kate herself said the country cannot wait "another four years" for it to happen.
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