Kate Garraway joins Nick Ferrari as LBC recognises Carers Week | Watch Again
Kate Garraway has revealed that she kept her heart condition diagnosis a secret from her late husband, Derek, admitting the news "would have killed him".
It comes as the 58-year-old Smooth FM presenter called on better support for carers across the UK, with figures revealing that 12,000 people become a carer everyday, with 400,000 carers currently living in "deep poverty".
Garraway's husband, former political lobbyist Derek Draper, passed away in 2024 following a prolonged battle with the after-effects of Covid-19.
The presenter is now using her own experience as his carer to shine a spotlight on the lack of support they receive, revealing the stress of being a full time carer left her "needing surgery" from the “stress of fighting the system”.
Speaking with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, the presenter admitted "society would collapse" without the tireless work of millions of carers across the UK.
Touching on the long-term health impact of caring for a loved one, Garraway shared how her own health had deteriorated, neglecting an autoimmune thyroid condition in a bid to focus on the full-time needs of her husband.
Admitted she "didn’t share [the diagnosis] with him because he already lived with huge guilt", the star chose to keep the news to herself, not even sharing the details with her children.
Now, Garraway is hoping to raise awareness of carers who are silently propping up the NHS.
"They hold the balance of life and death, I would argue, as much as doctors and nurses do because their decisions count. I still wake up in a total panic” she says.
Explaining the long-term impact, she told Nick, "you don’t fully switch off – and that’s 14 or 15 months afterwards”.
"Nobody begrudges it – and that’s probably part of the problem.”
Explaining the turning point with her own health, she admitted that ignoring appointments for "five years" to care for her husband had taken its toll on her own health.
"I woke up with terrible chest pain – got out of bed and into the shower and threw up,” she explained.
Revealed that Good Morning Britain co-host Dr Hillary “thought I was having a heart attack”, the incident was a wake-up call that led her to seek treatment.
"It’s a plea from the heart really," she admitted, highlighting "huge gaps" in the care system.
The presenter shared that on one occasion, a well-meaning care organisation even suggest she "leave Derek in hospital" at a time when she pleaded for respite due to her own health battle.
"I rang up to say, ‘what do I do? I haven’t slept for days,'" she told Nick.
"All I can tell you to do is take Derek to hospital and leave him there," admitted the call hander, "it’s all you can do."
"That person was doing the right thing," she concedes, as figures from Care UK suggesting that 1.2 million carers now live in poverty.
They also reveal that 58 per cent of UK carers neglect their own health to care for others.
"People just need financial support – and physical," she told Nick. "We need to have a wake up call".
It comes as figures released by Age UK reveal 400,000 carers in the UK are currently in "deep poverty".
