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KATE Garraway has revealed the coronavirus has ravaged her husband Derek Draper's body and made him "very, very diabetic".

The broadcaster's husband of 15 years was admitted to hospital on March 30 where he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was placed in an induced coma in April to give his lungs a break.

 Kate Garraway has revealed the coronavirus has ravaged her husband Derek Draper'd body and made him 'very, very diabetic'
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Kate Garraway has revealed the coronavirus has ravaged her husband Derek Draper'd body and made him 'very, very diabetic'Credit: Rex Features

In an exclusive interview with The Sun's Jane Moore, the 53-year-old presenter explained after weeks of Derek being too hooked up to equipment to move, the doctors had managed to give him an MRI scan to see the damage the virus has caused on his body.

Kate said that the virus caused holes in his heart, nerve damage, liver and kidney damage as well as a tracheotomy to help him breathe.

She said: "So they could finally see the damage they hadn’t been able to see before. The virus has just attacked everything.

"He’s got a tracheotomy now, so he’s breathing through that, and his lungs, which have clots, are showing some sign of recovery.

 The presenter explained after weeks of Derek being too hooked up to equipment to move, the doctors had managed to give him an MRI scan
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The presenter explained after weeks of Derek being too hooked up to equipment to move, the doctors had managed to give him an MRI scanCredit: Dan Charity - The Sun

"But the MRI showed that he has damage everywhere, holes in his heart, his liver is impacted, and his pancreas . . . well, he’s now very, very diabetic which he wasn’t before," she added.

"He’s been on kidney dialysis because his kidneys stopped functioning. And his nerves and his neurology have been affected by the virus, but the impact and the damage of that, they don’t yet know.

"He’s still being given breathing support, but the hope is that each day he will need less. They are watching him constantly, it’s like spinning plates. But whatever happens, we’re looking at months and months of rehabilitation."

Derek was put in to an induced coma in early April, but they have stopped giving him the drugs in the hope he regains consciousness.

 Kate said that the virus caused holes in his heart, nerve damage, liver and kidney damage as well as a tracheotomy to help him breathe
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Kate said that the virus caused holes in his heart, nerve damage, liver and kidney damage as well as a tracheotomy to help him breatheCredit: Rex Features
 The ITV star said that she received a "terrible phone call" two weeks ago from a senior doctor in the intensive care unit
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The ITV star said that she received a "terrible phone call" two weeks ago from a senior doctor in the intensive care unitCredit: Dan Charity - The Sun

Kate said: "They’ve been trying for the past three weeks to bring him out and he’s not regaining consciousness.

"If you don’t regain it in the first two or three days then that’s when they start talking about weeks, months, even a year."

The ITV star said that she received a "terrible phone call" two weeks ago from a senior doctor in the intensive care unit, who shared their worst fears.

She explained: "My first question, the one I always ask when the hospital call, was, 'Is Derek still alive?' and he said he was, but then asked me what my greatest fear was.

 The couple are parents to Darcey, 14, and 10-year-old Billy
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The couple are parents to Darcey, 14, and 10-year-old BillyCredit: PA:Press Association

"I said, "Derek dying" and he replied, 'Well, now I think I have to give you a second worst case scenario, which is that he never changes from this, that he is locked in this for ever'."

"He said, 'I'm not telling you this to scare you. It's because we don't know if he can recover. We'll only know over the coming weeks and months', I threw up, there and then.

She continued: "People had said to me before that they thought he was going to die, but not that he might stay in this state.

"It's like a second level of loss. We may lose him even if we don’t lose him. If he doesn’t wake up, then he's sort of lost anyway . . . not that I'd love him any less or ever give up.

"I'd fly all over the world to find a cure if there was one, but all this is unprecedented.

"There have been many awful calls over the weeks, but that one was particularly awful because I realised that, even though he's now Covid-free, the battle has changed."

Kate and her children, Darcey, 14, and 10-year-old Billy, have been unable to visit Derek due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, but speak to him over FaceTime.

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