Tears for Derek as Elton sang ‘He can unfold his wings and fly away’

Through the grief and torment of the previous 4 years, by means of the agony of watching her as soon as important, energetic husband change into so diminished by horrible sickness, Kate Garraway had one maxim: simply hold going.

Now, finally, she has lastly stopped. The relentlessness of the duty of caring for her beloved partner, Derek Draper, who was ravaged by Covid after falling in poor health in March 2020, ended together with his funeral yesterday.

Derek, a former New Labour lobbyist turned psychotherapist, died on January 3 this yr after a cardiac arrest, aged simply 56.

The funeral service happened on the historic St Mary the Virgin church in Primrose Hill, north London, three miles from the household residence the place Good Morning Britain presenter Kate did the whole lot she may to maintain him alive.

Famous faces gathered within the grand redbrick church to recollect him. Friend Sir Elton John attended, leaning on a gold strolling stick and accompanied by husband David Furnish.

Sir Tony Blair and spouse Cherie had been additionally current, together with Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer, Ed Miliband and Derek’s former boss Peter Mandelson. Politician turned TV presenter Ed Balls and ex-spin physician Alastair Campbell accomplished the New Labour contingent.

Kate’s TV colleagues had been out in pressure, too – Good Morning Britain presenters Susanna Reid, Ben Shephard, Charlotte Hawkins and Richard Arnold had been there to help their pal. Fiona Phillips was seen for the primary time since revealing her Alzheimer’s prognosis final yr, alongside her ITV govt husband Martin Frizell.

Kate, who wore her late husband’s watch to the service, seemed anguished because the coffin arrived, and clutched the hand of her son, Billy, 14. Perhaps most poignantly, her daughter, Darcey, 17, was one of many pallbearers for the coffin. Those who know Darcey say she is a ‘no-nonsense younger girl who has been a tower of power for her mom’.

Inside, the undoubted star flip was Sir Elton John performing his track Skyline Pigeon. Tears flowed as he sang the lyrics, ‘He can unfold his wings and fly away once more’. The order of service paid tribute to the singer, who had change into a ‘expensive pal’ and ‘supported them proper from the very first day’ that Derek had fallen in poor health.

The congregation lit candles as Sir Elton started singing, marking the truth that the funeral fell on Candlemas Day. Sir Tony Blair additionally gave a heartfelt speech as a part of the eulogies.

The final time many mourners could have been in that church was on Kate and Derek’s marriage ceremony day. Indeed, the Bishop of Exeter, who married them, was additionally there yesterday as a visitor.

In a considerate contact, the charity Carers UK offered machines for company to make contactless donations, whereas the psychological well being charity Mind had money bins there. The selection of charities was a nod to all that Kate has been by means of. For all her dedication to the maxim ‘simply hold going’, the truth was that her easy motto was something however.

One marketing consultant of 35 years’ standing mentioned Derek was essentially the most in poor health particular person he had ever seen. After Derek’s preliminary prognosis, the writer and former political adviser spent 98 days in an induced coma. He was reported to be the longest-suffering affected person with coronavirus after 184 days out and in of intensive care.

And the job of organising his 24-hour at-home help, caring for his or her two kids and dealing to maintain the household’s funds fell instantly into Kate’s lap.

Yet associates inform me that regardless of being overwhelmed by ‘exhaustion’, previously weeks Kate channelled her energies into organising a funeral becoming for a person who lived such a various life.

‘It gave Kate one thing to do,’ mentioned a pal. ‘She likes to get caught into sorting issues out.

‘All of a sudden [with Derek’s passing], she discovered her life was much less busy, so organising such an enormous funeral was a godsend.’

Now the funeral is over, nonetheless, and he or she has returned to a house with out Derek, one can solely think about the dimensions of Kate’s devastation. Her each area – bodily and psychological – had been stuffed with Derek’s wants.

Kate had transformed the household semi into one thing of a mini hospital, constructing ramps and widening doorways for his wheelchair, and putting in a raise and moist room. She had change into an knowledgeable in the whole lot from the dressings wanted to keep away from an infection, to the pulmonary workouts used to help his ravaged lungs.

Paralysed and doubly incontinent, his bedding and clothes needed to be modified many occasions a day. He was fed by means of a tube, and each ‘meal’ and drink was weighed to verify his precariously in poor health system was not overloaded.

Add to all this, too, the toil of navigating an intensely bureaucratic, labyrinthine medical system to make sure Derek acquired the care he so desperately wanted.

At one level, six packed field information of documentation and reviews sat on Kate’s touchdown, stuffed with the paperwork required to fund the 2 specialist carers – one evening and at some point – who stored him alive.

Kate even undertook demanding journeys to Mexico and again with Derek in an try to seek out him life-saving experimental stem cell remedy. ‘I do know I’m very fortunate to have him alive,’ she mentioned in an interview in September final yr.

‘But sure, I’m additionally grieving. And additionally I do not really feel bodily that sturdy. Caring is not simply emotionally draining however bodily exhausting, and I’m conscious of the toll it may tackle me, similar to hundreds of thousands of different carers.’

And like these hundreds of thousands of carers, Kate had different duties, too – corresponding to sustaining her 4am begins at Good Morning Britain’s west London studios, earlier than dashing off to Smooth Radio’s Leicester Square HQ. As a contract, it was no small matter for the household that if she did not work, she did not receives a commission.

Over the previous 4 years she additionally wrote a e book, made two acclaimed TV documentaries on the truth of caring for Derek – and one way or the other discovered the time to be a gift and loving mom to her kids: taxiing them to associates’ homes, events and sports activities golf equipment; making roast hen dinners each Sunday; seeing them by means of exams and the whirlwind of adolescence – all whereas watching their beloved dad deteriorate earlier than their eyes.

It’s fully to her credit score that she has tried to maintain their lives as regular as doable. She even agreed to have a New Year’s Eve social gathering at her £4 million residence within the north London enclave of Muswell Hill, simply days earlier than Derek handed away. Darcey, Kate’s daughter, who is alleged to be ‘extraordinarily well-liked’, hosted the do within the basement.

One pal mentioned: ‘Kate has finished her easiest to permit her children to stay like regular youngsters.’ On the ultimate day of Darcey’s GCSEs in 2022, Kate invited a gang of associates to have a good time of their basement, along with her in poor health father upstairs.

Kate recounted how Derek ‘coped with it amazingly. He favored the concept that she was being loud and wild’. Heartbreakingly, she mentioned, the couple sat collectively of their kitchen listening to the youngsters beneath, dancing and singing alongside to New Labour’s 1997 election anthem, Things Can Only Get Better.

Of all songs, there might be few extra prone to immediate their tears, as Kate admitted: ‘Derek and I had been each crying.’

Those near her consider she is going to quickly return to work, prompted as a lot by necessity as need. Closing Derek’s psychotherapy firm landed Kate with an enormous £716,000 tax invoice. She is alleged to have spent a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos on his care, and now faces promoting their residence.

The faintest of silver linings is that the nation has change into ever-more endeared to Kate, a completely likeable, clever girl.

One job that might be the reply to her monetary prayers could be to take Holly Willoughby‘s place on the celebrated This Morning couch. ITV bosses have been urged handy Kate the job, which may pay as much as £700,000. Alongside her could be shut pal Ben Shephard.

One supply on the channel mentioned: ‘It is a no brainer to get Kate on This Morning. It would save her financially and he or she would even be excellent. She’s intelligent, however with the sunshine contact. She and Ben are so shut and have essentially the most great chemistry.’

Their friendship is such that Kate may depend on Ben to accompany her and the youngsters to enjoyable actions corresponding to paddle boarding throughout Derek’s sickness. Her work ethic additionally makes her a gorgeous candidate. When, in 2022, burdened and exhausted, Kate suffered a critical cardiac incident backstage at GMB, her preliminary ideas had been solely of the present.

At 4am, with Kate in searing ache and unable to maneuver her arm, her producer phoned the programme’s resident GP Dr Hilary, who instructed the workforce to take her to hospital. Kate protested that she would by no means be again in time to seem on air. Rushed to A&E, she collapsed.

Since then she’s been awarded an MBE and her efficiency on display screen has by no means been extra watchable.

One can solely hope that now, having buried her beloved husband, Kate and her household can finally recuperate and look to the longer term after their really unimaginable ordeal.