Kate Garraway was hospitalised with ‘excruciating’ chest pains due to stress amid husband Derek Draper’s Covid battle: ‘I thought I was having a heart attack’

Kate Garraway has revealed she was admitted to hospital with ‘excruciating’ chest pains due to stress during her husband Derek Draper’s battle with coronavirus.

The 56-year-old presenter was getting ready to present Good Morning Britain last November, but when her alarm went off at 2am she couldn’t move to switch it off.

In her new book, The Strength Of Love, she describes how she then felt a ‘searing pain’ in her chest and was taken to the emergency room for examination.

Derek, also 56, was diagnosed with coronavirus at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and was left in a life-threatening condition.

Doctors put him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator, and he was hospitalized for thirteen months.

He has been seriously ill since 2020 and has been in and out of hospital since then, relying on the use of a wheelchair.

She said inside The sun on her health scare: “There was a burning pain in my chest – as if someone had driven their fist through my breastbone, grabbed my heart and squeezed it.

‘The pain was sharp and unbearable. Then I realized it wasn’t a sudden onset of pain. It was there all the time. My temporary paralysis had distracted me.

“Then the thought came, ‘Oh God, was I having a heart attack?’ But why did my body react this way?

“Could I have been so desperate to help Derek that I felt sorry?”

She then vomited on the way to work and was taken to the emergency room when she arrived at the studios.

They ran tests and a cardiologist ruled out that she was having a heart attack before the doctor allowed her to go home.

She also told how she burst into tears when the doctor recognized her and said she was an inspiration, telling the man, “I don’t do anything good for anyone.”

Her anxiety was a one-off problem, but doctors are now monitoring it as it may have been stress-related angina.

It comes after Kate shared an update on her husband Derek’s progress last week as she attended the National Television Awards on Tuesday night.

The star discussed how Derek and their family were doing as she told reporters on the red carpet: “We keep plowing ahead.”

Kate said: ‘He’s doing well. I’m afraid no dramatic progress has been made, but we keep plowing ahead.

‘Derek and the kids are all watching at home, but we also recorded it to watch together. I’m just glad I didn’t fall.’

The next day, Kate was seen stepping out on her Smooth radio show, wearing a khaki camouflage dress.

Earlier this month, Kate revealed her husband’s ordeal at the airport, which saw him stuck between passport gates for an hour.

Kate and her Good Morning Britain co-host Richard Madeley, 67, were speaking to Manchester bombing survivor Martin Hibbert about the demeaning treatment of people with disabilities on Wednesday’s show, when Kate recalled a shocking moment about her own husband.

Recounting the shock moment her Covid-stricken husband became trapped between the automatic ePassport gates after being unable to free himself, Kate told the show he was essentially ‘stuck in no man’s land’.

Sharing the experience after she and Derek returned to the country following treatment abroad, she said: ‘You know when you go through the passport lines and before that you couldn’t get a wheelchair through.

“They installed one at enormous expense. When they came to do it with Derek – and disability has a wide range – and he doesn’t have the cognition that you (Martin) have or the strength that you have in your upper body – we realized we couldn’t get him into the country .’

She went on to say that Derek was unable to physically free himself from the automated self-service barriers and was trapped for approximately an hour.

Kate continued: ‘He went to the front, the door locked, but the disabled person had to free him. Because you are not allowed to do that yourself because of the border, he was stuck in no man’s land for an hour or so, literally between two borders.’

It comes after Kate recalled Sir Elton John’s special tribute to her husband Derek last month, as she detailed how the legendary musician showed his support.

Derek has struggled to make a full recovery after falling ill with COVID-19 in March 2020, becoming the longest surviving hospital patient with the virus in the UK.

In April, the couple managed to jet off from their north London home to see Elton on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour at the O2 Arena, with their children Darcey, 17, and Billy, 13, after he invited them .

Speaking to The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas, Kate explained how the trip came about.

“Sir Elton John happened to have a friend who was in a coma in LA at the time Derek first got sick with COVID, and through strange connections we ended up talking,” she said.

Kate continued: ‘He asked what I was doing for Derek and we exchanged information, and he has kept in touch ever since.

‘When his tour resumed, he said, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could come and see it?” I never thought it was possible.

‘Suddenly there were only a few dates left before his extraordinary farewell at Glastonbury. I thought, let’s just try it.

‘I had no idea if we could even do it on the day. We got in there, Derek was great, we took him out for a bit because it was a little overwhelming.

‘But we went back in and it just happened to be at the exact moment when Sir Elton John was thanking everyone on the tour and all these incredible people.

‘He said, ‘I especially can’t believe Derek Draper is here’ and there clearly wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was amazing. To have that moment where you feel connected is extraordinary.”

The 76-year-old singer gave them a special shoutout and dedicated his hit Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me to them.

Kate said the trip was a major ordeal for the couple, especially for former political lobbyist Derek, who suffered devastating health complications.