Piers Morgan ‘feared’ he would never hear Derek Draper speak again
Piers Morgan was afraid he would never hear his friend, Derek Draper, speak again as the latter continues to recover from severe Covid-19.
Draper, who fell ill with coronavirus in March 2020, requires round-the-clock care at home as he continues to recover.
The former political adviser is being cared for by his wife, Kate Garraway, as well as a team of healthcare professionals. He returned home in April this year after spending more than 12 months in hospital.
Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, Morgan recalled being on the phone with Garraway last week to speak about filming the last episode of his ITV chat show, Life Stories.
Morgan asked how Draper was doing, to which Garraway replied: “He’s next to me now. Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
The former Good Morning Britain presenter said he was “stunned” by the chance to speak to Draper, as the last time they spoke was “nearly two years ago at my Christmas pub party in December 2019”.
“I just assumed he wouldn’t be capable of any kind of proper conversation, given his condition,” wrote Morgan. Garraway said previously that Draper could only make “minimal” communication and still struggled to speak after being “devastated” by Covid.
When Draper was passed the phone, Morgan said: “Derek! It’s so good to talk to you!”
“There was a slight pause and then I heard a familiar male voice say very clearly and strongly: ‘Hello!’,” he wrote.
Morgan told his friend to “keep battling” and that “we’re all so proud of you”, to which Draper said: “‘Thank you’ - again, very clearly.”
“It was a strange, thrilling experience,” wrote Morgan. “There have been many times when I feared I’d never heard Derek speak again.”
Garraway is set to replace Morgan on Life Stories from early December. She will sit down with the controversial presenter for a tell-all interview for his last time on the show, which will air on Sunday 5 December at 8pm.
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